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An essay is presented on urban pleasure and children in Victorian England, examining nineteenth century depictions of children and subterranean spaces. Several books are considered, including the Doctor Dolittle series by Hugh Lofting. The author also examines the modernist theory of intellectual Walter Benjamin, examining his study of nineteenth century urban culture called the Arcades Project.

We examined the accuracy of self-reported energy intake (rEI) in low-income, urban minority school-aged children at risk for obesity and associated diabetes utilizing a relatively new, simple previously published prediction equation for identifying inaccurate reports of dietary energy intake. Participants included 614 nine-year-old boys (51%) and girls (49%). Three 24-h dietary recalls were collected. Children's height, weight (used to calculate BMI), and percent body fat (%BF) were measured. Physical fitness, reported family history of diabetes, and ethnicity were also collected. A previously published prediction equation was used to determine the validity of rEIs in these children to identify under-, plausible-, and over-reporters. Additionally, we examined the question of whether there is a difference in reporting by sex, ethnicity, BMI, and %BF. On average, 18% of the children were at risk of being overweight, 43% were already overweight at baseline, yet these children reported consuming fewer calories on average than recommended guidelines. Additionally, reported caloric intake in this cohort was negatively associated with BMI and %BF. Using the previously described methods, 49% of participants were identified as under-reporters, whereas 39 and 12% were identified as plausible- and over-reporters, respectively. On average, children reported caloric intakes that were almost 100% of predicted energy requirement (pER) when the sedentary category was assigned. Inactivity and excessive energy intake are important contributors to obesity. With the rising rates of obesity and diabetes in children, accurate measures of energy intake are needed for better understanding of the relationship between energy intake and health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants are integral parts of ecosystems which determine life on Earth. People’s attitudes toward them are however, largely overlooked. Here we present initial psychometric assessment of self-constructed Plant Attitude Scale (PAS) that was administered to a sample of 310 Slovakian students living in rural areas aged 10–15 years. The final version of PAS consists from 29 Likert-scale items that were loaded to four distinct dimensions (Interest, Importance, Urban trees and Utilization). Mean scores revealed that Slovakian students lack positive attitudes toward plants and that gender had no effect on their mean attitude scores. Living in a family with a garden was associated with a more positive attitude toward plants. Further correlative research on diverse samples containing urban children and experimental research examining the impact of gardening in schools on student attitudes toward plants is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on science education for urban gifted students in the Project Clarion educational program. Project Clarion is a curriculum designed to engage students in science activities and projects to improve achievement and increase engagement. The article also discusses socioeconomic factors in education, school funding, and learning models.

This article reports on the history of gifted education in urban settings in the 20th and 21st centuries. The article discusses early research on gifted education and the development of honors programs, special classes, and extracurricular activities, describing how cities have more students and resources than in rural areas. Information is provided on urban programs in Chicago, Illinois; New York City, New York; and San Diego, California.

This article reports on the education of gifted students in the Northeastern U.S. in terms of programs, resources, and private schools. The article discusses urban gifted children and how many programs to address their education are unfunded because resources are directed at low-achieving students instead. Information is provided on the Renzulli Academy in Hartford, Connecticut and its curriculum, policies, and philosophy.

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience for Youth (1997 cohort) are used to examine the urban school achievement gap. Specifically, we use the Blinder-Oaxaca technique to decompose differences in Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery scores for students who attended urban and suburban schools. We find that approximately 75% of the gap in this achievement measure is explained by the high concentration of disadvantaged students in urban schools. Broken down further, 36% of the gap can be attributed to differences in family background. The lower income of urban families alone explains 25% of the gap. Differences in measures of school quality, such as small classes, large schools, and private school attendance, explain very little of the gap. While current policy focuses on schools and school reform, our results are a reminder that meaningful efforts to improve performance in urban schools must address socioeconomic conditions in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study, informed by phenomenology and ethnography, explores urban children’s relationship with their urban environment: In what ways do urban children exhibit “insideness” in their sense of place? This study proposes “insideness” as a conceptual construct to understand urban children’s sense of place in its ecological and dynamic nature. Employing qualitative research methods, the study explores place stories of urban children who live in low-income, immigrant neighborhoods in New York City. The study finds that as children cultivate their sense of place, they construct “insideness” in their sense of place including 1) environmental understanding (i.e., contextualized, comprehensive, and critical understanding of a place), 2) environmental competence (i.e., knowing how to navigate and engage in a place), and 3) diverse, strong affective relationships with a place. Using “insideness” as a conceptual tool, this study discusses children’s emplaced understanding and active and dialogical positionality in the development of their sense of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the common framework and language for focusing finances in urban schools and its role in improving the children's lives. It mentions on the basic mechanics of school funding, the functions of local, state, and federal government, and how stakeholders provide solution-oriented converstaions. It emphasizes on some concepts in urban school funding which includes accountability, equity, and stability.

Impoverished children suffer disproportionately from asthma and are more likely than other children to be exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS). We conducted a case-control study to describe and compare knowledge, attitudes, and household practices regarding SHS exposure among parents of young urban children with and without asthma (response rate, 76%). Overall, 39% of children lived with ≥1 smoker (cases, 36%; controls, 43%). The majority of parents (78%) felt that cigarette smoking is very dangerous and agreed that smoke harms the health of children (97%). Cases were more likely than controls to report that smoking in a car affects children's health (54% vs 42%) and that smoking in front of children is never allowed in their home (88% vs 79%). Additionally, more cases reported a home smoking ban (81% vs 70%). Our findings suggest that parents of children with asthma have somewhat better knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding SHS; however, gaps remain, and many urban children continue to be exposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the historical geography of childhood in Melbourne, Australia in the 1950s, utilizing case studies of urban planners and the viewpoints of post-war children. It states that individuals who were children in the 1950s would describe their neighborhoods in phenomenological, social and emotive terms. It mentions that urban planners examined Melbourne in quantifiable terms that included administrative boundaries, traffic routes, school locations and recreations spaces.

Teachers' views and expectations of students directly impact student learning, and unless they are challenged during the preparation period, these views are unlikely to change. This study investigated how a group of prospective teachers explained the shift in their perspectives of low-income, urban youth as a result of participating in a service-learning project that explicitly attended to issues of status and processes of unlearning. The findings indicate that when fused with student voice work, service learning can help prospective teachers to uncover, examine, and revise their assumptions about students, particularly those whose backgrounds differ from their own. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We consider young children''s construals of biological phenomena and the forces that shape them, using category-based induction task that demonstrated anthropocentric reasoning in young urban children. Follow-up studies (including our own) have questioned the generality of her results, but they have employed quite different procedures and either have not included urban children or, when urban samples were included, have failed to reproduce her original findings. In the present study of 4–10-year-olds from three cultural communities, our procedures followed Carey''s more closely and replicated her findings with young urban children. However, they yielded quite different results for young rural European American and young rural Native American children. These results underscore the importance of a complex interaction of culture and experience – including both day-to-day interactions with the natural world and sensitivity to the belief systems of the communities – in children''s reasoning about the natural world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: We used Glasgow's RE-AIM framework to evaluate the feasibility of a primary care-based intervention to decrease behaviors that place urban children at risk for obesity. Methods: During preventive visits of 2–5-year-olds between February 2006 and May 2007, parents completed a health behavior assessment. Primary care providers engaged parents in brief goal setting and referred them to a lifestyle counselor. Evaluation involved medical record review, interviews with staff and clinicians, and health behavior assessment via a pre- and post-intervention telephone survey. Results: Families reached by the intervention did not differ from families who were not. The intervention was adopted by 14 of 17 clinicians. The health assessment was implemented in 32% of preventive visits (N =354). Of those, goal setting by physicians occurred in 59%, with 55% referred to the lifestyle counselor. We were unable to demonstrate effectiveness to change adult or child nutrition or physical activity, as complete data were available for only 34 families. Conclusion: Goal setting with referral for more intensive lifestyle counseling for obesity prevention in high risk families is feasible and acceptable in primary care. Practice implications: Patient educators can be integrated into primary care to achieve preventive care goals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives. To explore the utility of two measures, Risk for Nonadherence (RN) and Admitted Nonadherence (AN), developed in a national sample of children with chronic asthma, for predicting short-term morbidity among children following a pediatric emergency department (PED) visit for acute asthma and to compare verbal and self-completion of these measures. Design, Setting, and Participants. Prospective cohort study of children 3 to 11 years of age presenting to a PED with an acute asthma exacerbation. Caretakers were randomized to self-completion of a questionnaire assessing RN and AN or to verbally respond to the same questionnaire administered by a research assistant. Five asthma morbidity indicators were collected at 2, 4, and 8 weeks following discharge from the PED. Results. One hundred fifty-four patients were enrolled. There were no significant differences in asthma severity, RN, or AN, or the number of items missing on questionnaires between the self-completion and verbal administration groups. Patients with a RN score >4 had an adjusted odds of 3.67 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.57-8.58) for waking >2 nights due to asthma symptoms. The adjusted odds of patients with any AN to report needing >4 days of rescue asthma medication was 3.16 (95% CI 1.37-7.26). Conclusion. RN and AN were both associated with morbidity indices following an acute asthma exacerbation and can identify children at risk for increased short-term morbidity regardless of the method of questionnaire administration. Assessment of RN and AN by self-administered questionnaire during an ED visit for asthma maybe feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified profiles of 13 risk factors across child, family, school, and neighborhood domains in a diverse sample of children in kindergarten from four US locations (n = 750; 45% minority). It then examined the relation of those early risk profiles to externalizing problems, school failure, and low academic achievement in Grade 5. A person-centered approach, latent class analysis, revealed four unique risk profiles, which varied considerably across urban African American, urban White, and rural White children. Profiles characterized by several risks that cut across multiple domains conferred the highest risk for negative outcomes. Compared to a variable-centered approach, such as a cumulative risk index, these findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the early precursors to negative outcomes. For example, results suggested that urban children in single-parent homes that have few other risk factors (i.e., show at least average parenting warmth and consistency and report relatively low stress and high social support) are at quite low risk for externalizing problems, but at relatively high risk for poor grades and low academic achievement. These findings provide important information for refining and targeting preventive interventions to groups of children who share particular constellations of risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ilkogretim Online is the property of Ilkogretim Online and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Physical activity has a great influence on our health. Because of the environmental prerequisites of physical activity and health it would be important to explore what children think of this relationship. Therefore, this paper aims to highlight the connection among environment/urban planning and physical activity and the importance of them for health. The primary goal of the present study was to determine beliefs and interconnections between environment and regular physical activity between Grade 4 and Grade 5 children living in different urban settings. Subjects included young children aged 9–11 (N =448) from six primary schools in Hungary representing three residential location types (capital city, medium-sized and small towns). Interconnections among the children''s environment, health/illness and physical activity were assessed through a questionnaire based upon the ‘draw-and-write’ technique. Our findings showed a close connection between urban children''s images of physical activity and the environment. Children''s mentions of sports equipment, place, or institution suitable for physical activity were frequently in connection with the word ‘environment’. The children''s drawings and written answers that were analyzed in this study support, within each type of the residential location examined, that there is an opportunity to engage in satisfactory leisure time physical activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective To determine the leading causes of fatal injury for urban South African children aged 0--14 years, the distribution of those causes and the current potential for safety improvements. Methods We obtained injury surveillance data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System 2001--2003 for six major South African cities varying in size, development and sociodemographic composition. We calculated age-adjusted rates, by sex, population group and city, for death from the five leading causes of fatal injury as well as population attributable risks (PARs). Findings The leading causes of fatal injury in childhood included road traffic injuries -- among vehicle passengers and especially among pedestrians -- drowning, burns and, in some cities, firearm injuries. Large differences in PARs were observed, particularly for population groups and cities. Disparities between cities and between population groups were largest for deaths from pedestrian injuries, while differences between boys and girls were greatest for drowning deaths. Conclusion In the face of the high variability observed between cities and population groups in the rates of the most common types of fatal injuries, a safety agenda should combine safety-for-all countermeasures -- i.e. lowering injury rates for all -- and targeted countermeasures that help reduce the burden for those at greatest risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors took a population-based approach to testing how commonly studied neighborhood socioeconomic conditions are associated with the language and cognitive outcomes of residentially stable rural and urban children tracked from kindergarten (ages 5–6) to Grade 4 (ages 9–10). Child-level kindergarten Early Development Instrument (EDI) data were probabilistically linked to scores on Grade 4's Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), 4 years later, and to socioeconomic data describing the children's residential neighborhoods. Multilevel analyses were performed for a study population of 5,022 children residing in 105 neighborhoods across British Columbia, Canada: 635 children in 20 rural neighborhoods and 4,825 children in 85 urban neighborhoods. Concentrated immigration consistently predicted better child outcomes. Moreover, the determinants of children's language and cognitive outcomes analyzed cross-sectionally differed from the determinants of outcomes analyzed longitudinally. Furthermore, there were notable differences in the extent of the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic conditions and rural and urban children's outcomes over time. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the early decades of the twentieth century, southern New England's Connecticut Valley had become a center of shade tobacco production and a destination for seasonal farmworkers drawn from sources inside and outside of New England. This paper explores the history of three groups of seasonal workers—children from area cities and towns; white southern high school students; and young African American men from southern high schools and black colleges—with an eye assessing the impact their presence on the form and meaning of the Connecticut Valley. My fist goal is to add depth to the historiography of twentieth-century New England farming by drawing attention to the largely overlooked story of non-rural and extra-regional seasonal farmworkers. My second goal is to frame the case of Connecticut tobacco labor according to the study of mobility and its relationship to landscape. The mobility of workers into and within the region, I suggest, made possible the success of the shade tobacco economy while at the same time posing challenges to popularized cultural conventions about regional identity. For this reason, I argue, the history of Connecticut's shade tobacco landscape was informed by the efforts of shade tobacco growers to direct and control a confluence of environmental conditions, group and place-based identities, and the mechanics and meanings of mobility among seasonal workers. By hiring non-local, seasonal workers and by attempting to control their mobility, large-scale, corporate growers and their spokespeople ultimately sought to maintain control over the development and identity of the valley's rural landscape. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The present study aims to advance the extant research base by evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of an academic vocabulary program designed for use in mainstream middle school classrooms with high proportions of language minority learners. The quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study was conducted in 21 classes (13 treatment matched to 8 control) in seven middle schools in a large district, with 476 sixth-grade students (346 language minority learners, 130 native English speakers). Classroom observations and teacher logs indicated the 18-week program was implemented with good fidelity and that the approach contrasted sharply with the standard district English language arts (ELA) curriculum. Multilevel modeling indicated that the program resulted in significant effects on several aspects of vocabulary knowledge, including meanings of taught words (d = 0.39; p < .0001), morphological awareness (d = 0.20; p = .0003), and the word meanings as presented in expository text (d = 0.20; p = .0227). The program also yielded marginally significant, but promising effects on a depth of word knowledge measure (d = 0.15; p =0.0830) and a norm-referenced measure of reading comprehension (d = 0.15; p = .0568). No effects were found on a norm-referenced vocabulary measure. These effects were comparable for language minority learners and their native-English-speaking classmates. Data from teachers shed light on the challenges of meeting students' diverse instructional needs and the roles of curriculum and professional networks in building instructional capacity. The findings show promise in developing effective multifaceted vocabulary instruction for implementation by ELA teachers in middle school classrooms with high numbers of language minority learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present the results of active case ascertainment of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). This study included a sample of urban schoolchildren attending 1st to 4th grade elementary school and their mothers. Out of 912 mothers, 575 (63.04%) participated in the interview. Prenatal alcohol consumption was admitted by 15.47% and binge drinking by 3.13% of interviewed mothers. We evaluated 466 (51.09%) schoolchildren for signs of FAS or partial fetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS) using revised Institute of Medicine (IOM) diagnostic criteria. Nineteen students had features consistent with FAS or PFAS. The observed prevalence of FAS is 3 children and of PFAS is 16 children among 466 students, based on 51% participation rate. The estimated prevalence of FAS is 6.44/1000, of PFAS 34.33/1000 and overall prevalence of FAS/PFAS 40.77/1000. This is the first study of FAS prevalence in Croatia and as far as we are aware the second study in Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study reports on an examination of the factor structure underlying reading performance in a sample of urban, dysfluent children. Participants were 140 second and third graders identified as exhibiting reading difficulties stemming from inefficient word and/or nonword reading. Consistent with a more complex view of reading, the results of structural equation modeling identify four distinct but correlated factors: word-level decoding, vocabulary knowledge, timing, and text-level skill. The relative independence of these factors in this sample illustrates the importance of assessing these four domains with measures identified as marker variables. Results are discussed in relation to models of early identification and remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess mother-child agreement on the child's past food exposure, and factors affecting response discrepancy. Methods: Twelve- to 14-year-old children and their mothers (n = 78) in an urban community, a rural community, and 2 orthodontic clinics completed a 69-item food questionnaire to determine mother-child level of agreement on the child's past consumption frequency; response discrepancies; the frequencies that the mother cooked for and ate together with her child; food types; mother-child pair effect; and food item effect. Results: Sixty-eight percent of food items had moderate to good agreement (Kqw ⩾ 0.41). Rural pairs had lower odds of producing response discrepancy (odds ratio = 0.55). Variances of the mother-child pair and food item random effects were 0.87 and 0.08, respectively. Conclusions and Implications: The child's past food exposure recall by the mother and the child had moderate to good agreement, especially among rural mother-child pairs. Mother-child disagreement was not affected by the food items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to simultaneously address adolescent self-regulation, activity space (routine locations), and mental health represent a promising social ecological approach aimed at understanding the lives and development of urban youth. This type of examination of contextual influences on self-regulation is considered an important area of developmental research, yet one that is understudied (McCabe, Cunnington, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004). Little is known about the self-regulatory experiences that might link specific types of locations with mental health problems, particularly with urban youth who live in areas characterized by chronic and severe stressors such as personal violence, criminal activity, and poverty. Recent research has demonstrated the “power of context” (Tolan, Gorman-Smith, Henry, Chung, & Hunt, 2002) to influence coping styles and has demonstrated that without detailed and specified knowledge of the social ecology of urban youth, measurement of critical variables and interpretation of results are likely to be misinformed (Tolan & Grant, 2009). Given the importance of understanding youth through an interactive and contextual framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Szapocznik & Coatsworth, 1999), the present study examined self-regulatory experiences, specified favorite locations, and mental health with urban adolescents residing in low-resource and high-risk environments. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the adventures of teaching city students in the U.S. It cites the teaching and learning methods that usually occur in the cities and asserts the durable understanding of students of urban city history based on the ethnographic study conducted. It notes the findings of Lucy Sprague Mitchell on how children of different ages tended to make sense of their world like their description of neighborhoods and Ocean Avenue. This particular quality of the students acknowledges their good talent in processing ideas and exposure to the best sort of education.

This article describes some lessons that can be learned about teaching in an urban school from an award-winning elementary school. The school, known as Quest school, realized that its high-needs students weren't achieving at an acceptable level and would need a revised curriculum and new teaching methods to reach the students. The curriculum in all subject areas was changed so that it related to the students' world, their school and community. The changes made a dramatic difference in the students' attitudes about learning. The article describes the process for changing the school and the students.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of dysmenorrhea, its impact, and the treatment-seeking behavior of adolescent Asian girls.Method: A cross-sectional study with 1092 girls from 15 public secondary schools and 3 ethnic groups in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Results: Overall, 74.5% of the girls who had reached menarche had dysmenorrhea; 51.7% of these girls reported that it affected their concentration in class; 50.2% that it restricted their social activities; 21.5% that it caused them to miss school; and 12.0% that it caused poor school performance. Ethnicity and form at school were significantly associated with the poor concentration, absenteeism, and restriction of social and recreational activities attributed to dysmenorrhea. Only 12.0% had consulted a physician, and 53.3% did nothing about their conditions. There were ethnic differences in the prevalence, impact, and management of dysmenorrhea.Conclusion: There is a need for culture-specific education regarding menstruation-related conditions in the school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that analyzes the conditions of working children in urban Mexican shantytowns in terms of work, earnings, and nutrition. It examines the impact of the children's cash earning and contributions for their homes to the nutritional status of themselves and of siblings. The results of the study show that these cash contributions made no impact on the nutritional status of working children and their younger siblings, but significantly increase the weight of the older ones.

The article offers suggestions for educators to help urban children specially students of color and children living in poverty on developing their positive racial identities. Topics discussed include need of educators to design interactive classes to develop sociopolitical histories of range of students and their communities, assets-based approach to explore experience and encouraging students about racial awareness by recognizing their own race to sustain educational disparities.

This study examined the relationship of two putative school-based protective factors—student identification with school and perceived teacher support—to psychosocial outcomes in a sample of urban youth exposed to community violence. Participants were 175 high school students ages 14–19 in grades 9–12 from a large urban school district. Results indicated that exposure to violence was positively associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, identification with school and teacher support were related to higher hope and lower psychosocial distress. Adolescents who reported higher identification with school and higher teacher support reported higher hope, regardless of the level of violence exposure. Results emphasize the importance of school factors, particularly feeling connected to and supported in school, in promoting hope and minimizing psychosocial distress for youth exposed to community violence. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This descriptive study examined the distribution of risk factors in a sample that was selected on the basis of existing potential for difficult child behaviors. We inquired into whether exposure to risk factors was distributed equally across different contexts of ethnicity, locality, and child gender. Participants included 731 mother–child dyads recruited from WIC Programs in rural, suburban, and urban localities. Cumulative risk indices were constructed using neighborhood, family, and individual risk factors. The findings generally revealed that African American children and children in urban localities were exposed to higher numbers of risk factors and cumulative risk in relation to other ethnic children and localities. On the other hand, Caucasian children expressed higher levels of vulnerabilities to risk for internalizing behaviors than did other children. The results are discussed in terms of differences in contextual specific rates of risk exposure, vulnerability, and their implications for prevention and intervention research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the longitudinal effects of home-based asthma education combined with medication adherence feedback (adherence monitoring with feedback [AMF]) and asthma education alone (asthma basic care [ABC]) on asthma outcomes, relative to a usual-care (UC) control group. METHODS: A total of 250 inner-city children with asthma (mean age: 7 years; 62% male; 98% black) were recruited from a pediatric emergency department (ED). Health-outcome measures included caregiver-frequency of asthma symptoms, ED visits, hospitalizations, and courses of oral corticosteroids at baseline and 6-, 12-, and 18-month assessments. Adherence measures included caregiver-reported adherence to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy and pharmacy records of ICS refills. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the differential effects of AMF and ABC compared with UC. RESULTS: ED visits decreased more rapidly for the AMF group than for the UC group, but no difference was found between the ABC and UC groups. The AMF intervention led to short-term improvements in ICS adherence during the active-intervention phase relative to UC, but this improvement decreased over time. Asthma symptoms and courses of corticosteroids decreased more rapidly for the ABC group than for the UC group. Hospitalization rates did not differ between either intervention group and the UC group. No differences were found between the ABC and AMF groups on any outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Asthma education led to improved adherence and decreased morbidity compared with UC. Home-based educational interventions may lead to modest short-term improvements in asthma outcomes among inner-city children. Adherence feedback did not improve outcomes over education alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the association between trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 157 help-seeking children (aged 8-17). Structured clinical interviews are carried out, and linear and logistic regression analyses are conducted to examine the relationship between PTSD and type of trauma exposure controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity. Confrontation with traumatic news, witnessing domestic violence, physical abuse, and sexual abuse are each significantly associated with PTSD. Witnessing a crime, being the victim of a crime, and exposure to accidents, fire, or disaster are not associated with PTSD. These findings underscore the association between interpersonal violence and childhood PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent residential movement challenges children to adapt to change, amongst others, houses and neighbourhoods, friends and schools, and this may have either or both negative and positive influences on their health and well-being. However, there is currently little knowledge of the patterns of child residential mobility within South Africa’s urban environment. This paper uses address data of children in the Birth to Twenty cohort to analyse the frequencies and patterns of residential mobility observed over the first 14 years of these children’s lives. Of the 3,273 children enrolled into the cohort in 1990, two thirds of the children (64%) have moved home at least once. Nonetheless, a third of the children never moved, indicating some stability among the urban child population. Residential moves by children were found to be associated with both the lowest resourced and the highest resourced households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. The study aims to identify relations between depressive symptoms prevalence in children and changing social context within a period of fifteen years. Material and methods. The Kraków Depression Inventory (KID), version AO "B1" was used as a screening tool for depression in children. The subject group included 10-year-old fourth-form Kraków primary school students selected in 1984 and 2001 by two-stage draw. The analysis included subjects with a screening diagnosis of depression symptoms. In 1984, this was a group of 160, and in 2001 - 200 persons. Results. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between the groups of pupils under study in 1984 and 2001 as far as the scale of mood disorder is concerned (a reduction in the intensity of symptoms in girls and an increase in boys) and somatic symptoms (increase of symptoms in girls and a reduction in the intensity of symptoms in boys). On other scales, no differences of statistical significance were found between the groups. Conclusions. The changing social conditions have a relatively low effect on the symptomatic depression image in preadolescent children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between shyness-sensitivity and social competence, school performance, and psychological well-being in Chinese children with rural and urban backgrounds. Participants were students in rural migrant children schools and city schools in China (Ns = 411 and 518, respectively; M age = 10 years). Data were obtained from peer evaluations, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. It was found that shyness was associated with social and school problems and depression in urban children. However, shyness was generally associated with indexes of adjustment such as leadership, teacher-rated competence, and academic achievement in rural migrant children. The results indicate the role of context in defining the functional meaning of social behavior in children’s adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined coping strategies as mediators of the relation between maternal attachment and depressive symptoms in a sample of urban youth. Participants included 393 adolescents (M age = 12.03, SD = .85) participating in a larger study of the impact of stressful life experiences on low-income urban youth. Participants completed self-report measures of maternal attachment, coping strategies, and depressive symptoms at two time points. Results indicated that attachment was not a significant predictor of depression over time. Path analyses demonstrated limited support for a model in which higher maternal attachment predicted higher active coping, which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms at Time 2. Maternal attachment was a significant predictor of higher support-seeking coping, avoidant, and distraction coping. Higher maternal attachment predicted greater use of active coping strategies for boys but not for girls, and greater use of active coping strategies predicted fewer depressive symptoms for girls but not for boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study analyzed routine locations (activity spaces) of urban adolescents enrolled in a substance abuse treatment program to understand the relationship between their spatial lives and health outcomes such as substance use and mental health. Sixty-eight adolescents were interviewed and produced a list of 199 locations identified as most important, safe, and risky. A TwoStep Cluster analysis resulted in two mutually exclusive groups of adolescents (n =58). Clusterwise importance analyses showed that sex, distress, anxiety, emotional problems, and drug use significantly distinguish clusters from each other. An important finding was that activity spaces vary according to the frequency of substance use and the amount of emotional problems. School was frequently perceived as a risky place – followed by friend''s house and nature – for those who used alcohol and marijuana more frequently and had more emotional distress. The intersection between environment, emotion regulation, and health outcomes is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this study was to describe and compare the dietary variety, diversity, and origins of complementary foods given to urban and rural Guatemalan infants in the second semester of life. Dietary intake from a total of 128 infants of both sexes, aged 6.0 to 12.0 months on admission, from a low-income district of Guatemala City and a rural Mayan village was collected by means of 3 nonconsecutive 24-hour quantitative intake recalls and breast-feeding histories. We hypothesized that rural/urban, age, and sex differences would occur with respect to dietary variety and diversity scores and descriptive features at 7 levels, that is, animal or plant origin (animal, plant, both, or water); solids or semisolids vs soups and stews vs liquids; infant vs family foods; modern vs traditional foods; processed vs nonprocessed foods; commercial vs noncommercial foods; and fortified vs nonfortified foods. Overall dietary variety and diversity scores did not differ significantly between sampling areas or between sexes. Infants aged 9 to 12 months had a higher dietary variety and diversity than infants aged 6 to 9 months. Plant sources constituted a large part of the diet in both areas. Foods prepared specifically for infants, rather than for the household, were not common, although more common in the urban area than in the rural area. Commercial, processed, and fortified foods were commonly consumed in both settings. It can be concluded that although no geographical differences were seen in dietary variety or diversity, distinctions between types of selected and consumed foods were observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study which examines the efficiency of Cooper 12-minute run/walk test (CT12) as a one-time estimate of cardiorespiratory fitness in children with persistent asthma. The study employs 45 asthmatic urban children, whose ages range from 7 to 14, to participate in exercise interventions. Moreover, the study found that CT12 is a good estimate of fitness but a poor indicator of fitness change.

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This investigation examined associations between early adolescents' relationships with parents and teachers and indicators of school-adjustment. Participants were primarily students of color (91% Latino) in a low-income urban environment, and analyses were conducted to examine the relative contributions of parent-child and teacher-student relationships to school adjustment among these youth. Findings indicated that parent-child relationship quality accounted for a significant portion of the variance in student-rated school engagement, school competence, and standardized achievement in reading. Teacher-student relationship quality accounted for a significant amount of variance in student-reported engagement, grades in language arts, grades in mathematics, and mathematical achievement. Unclear expectations in relationships with parents, and closeness-trust with teachers made particularly strong contributions to school adjustment. Interaction analyses between parent and teacher relationship factors were significant for only one of the six school adjustment variables (i.e., student-rated school competence). The implications of these findings for teachers and other school personnel are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wechsler intelligence test has four factors representing four components of intellectual function. In China, there are marked cultural, educational, and economic disparities between rural and urban dwellers, which could lead to cultural bias. The aim of this study was to apply the four-factor structure to responses to the Chinese Intelligence Scale for Young Children (CISYC) of 820 rural and 664 urban children aged 3 to 7 years. Measurement invariance testing using confirmatory factor analysis showed that the same four factors nested under a higher-order factor held for both rural and urban children. The general intelligence factor mean and variance were invariant and the means and range of scores for rural and urban children were similar. The results show no evidence of cultural bias and that the four factors can be interpreted similarly to those in the Wechsler intelligence test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Health literacy (HL) affects adult asthma management, yet less is known about how parent HL affects child asthma care. Objective: To examine associations between parent HL and measures related to child asthma. Methods: Parents of 499 school-age urban children with persistent asthma in Rochester, New York completed home interviews. Measures: the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) for parent HL; National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) criteria for asthma severity, and validated measures of asthma knowledge, beliefs, and experiences. Analyses: bivariate and multivariate analyses of associations between parent HL measures related to child asthma. Results: Response rate: 72%, mean child age: 7.0 years. Thirty-two percent had a Hispanic parent; 88% had public insurance. Thirty-three percent had a parent with limited HL. Low parent HL was independently associated with greater parent worry, parent perception of greater asthma burden, and lower parent-reported quality of life. Measures of health care use (e.g., emergency care and preventive medicines) were not associated with parent HL. Conclusions: Parents with limited HL worried more and perceived greater overall burden from the child''s asthma, even though reported health care use did not vary. Practice implications: Improved parent understanding and provider-parent communication about child asthma could reduce parent-perceived asthma burden, alleviate parent worry, and improve parent quality of life. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aims of this study were to compare prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) in 1- to 3-year-old children seeing primary-care pediatricians at two urban medical centers in Boston to the prevalence of ECC in similarly aged US children surveyed as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and to assess risk factors for ECC among this cohort of children compared with risk factors among similarly aged US children. Characteristics of 787 1- to 3-year-old children from two urban Boston medical centers were compared with those of 3,644 similarly aged US children surveyed as part of NHANES III. Demographic and social characteristics and ECC prevalence by putative risk factors were compared. A multiple logistic regression model was fit to assess putative risk factors and difference between groups simultaneously. Race, age, previous dental visit, parents' education, and household income were significantly associated with ECC prevalence. Parents' place of birth was a significant effect modifier with lower ECC among Boston children of immigrants than among US children of immigrants. Lower ECC prevalence among urban Boston children of immigrant parents compared with US children of immigrant parents may reflect changing immigrant composition in the United States since NHANES III or a different immigrant composition in the Boston area compared with the United States. This finding reinforces the need for further research of immigrants in order to understand cultural practices that may affect oral health. Finally, low ECC prevalence among very young children reinforces the importance of early intervention in reducing ECC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of the Scott Foresman Early Reading Intervention (ERI) on growth rates in the early literacy skills of urban at-risk kindergarten students. Students participated in one of three groups: treatment-intensive/strategic, treatment-benchmark, and nontreatment-benchmark. Treatment group students received a 30-minute ERI program from classroom teachers 3 days a week for 5 to 14 weeks. Using multivariate analysis of variance and the hierarchical linear model, the authors compared students' benchmark and progress monitoring scores on the Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) and Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) subtests of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills. Results indicated that PSF and NWF benchmark performance gaps decreased between the treatment-intensive/strategic and nontreatment-benchmark groups, indicating beneficial effects for the ERI. Additionally, the PSF and NWF progress monitoring growth rates of treatment group students during the ERI program were significantly higher than rates before treatment. Implications of early reading interventions for urban at-risk students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]