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Explored the experiences of public university students (N = 1,573) in five domains (e.g., mental health, remote learning) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether these experiences differed as a function of college generation status. Mental health challenges were observed, with first-generation students reporting higher depression, anxiety, and pandemic-related stress than continuing-generation students. One-fourth of students reported suicidal ideation/suicide attempts since the start of the pandemic, but few (15%; fewer first- than continuing-generation) had accessed mental health services. Other common stressors included having to self-isolate due to exposure to, living with someone who tested positive for, and having been diagnosed with, COVID-19. Disruptions in social connection were prevalent. Students reported limited access to various social supports, feeling isolated, and having endured close relationship losses. Remote learning challenges included having to share devices, lacking reliable Internet and dedicated home learning spaces, and being disturbed by others at home (more first- than continuing-generation students). The pandemic has widened the divide between first- and continuing-generation students and has exacerbated the challenges faced by all students (and created new ones). Identifying these challenges is an essential first step toward developing methods for enhancing student well-being in the higher education "new normal."

This paper presents a longitudinal examination of Spanish and English phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic abilities in 20 low-SES bilingual preschoolers with mothers who had either completed primary or secondary education in Spanish in their country of origin, Mexico. We focused on the link between maternal education and the following spontaneous production measures: (1) phonological accuracy as measured by Percent of Consonants Correct-Revised, (2) lexical variety as measured by Number of Different Words, and (3) utterance length as measured by Mean Length of Utterance in words; the relation between maternal education and spontaneous production was examined both (a) at preschool entry, when children were on average 3;6, and (b) a year later, after one year of exposure to the majority language (English) and culture. The results showed that although children of more educated mothers performed significantly better on all English measures than children of less educated mothers, maternal education was not related to Spanish outcomes. The same differences persisted a year later. These results suggest that maternal education may play a different, but long-lasting role in English compared to Spanish development possibly due to language input differences attributable to distinct cultural values and practices associated with different languages.

This study examines language mixing in 26 Spanish-English dual language learners over the course of their first year of preschool. The children's patterns of language choice while interacting in monolingual language contexts were analyzed at age 3;6 and 4;5 to examine: (1) whether the frequency of language mixing changed during the year; (2) whether mixing was related to proficiency as measured by utterance length and lexical diversity; and (3) whether there were different subgroups of children, among the participants, with similar proficiency and language use patterns. The results indicate that language mixing, which was low at both ages, was related to limited lexical resources only at 3;6. However, by age 4;5, language choice was more constrained by sociolinguistic variables -- children's awareness of the language prescribed by the majority culture -- than by proficiency. An exploratory cluster analysis further reveals different profiles of learners sharing similar proficiency and language mixing characteristics.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate typical Spanish-English speech sound development longitudinally in a group of bilingual preschoolers enrolled in a Head Start Program and to examine the extent to which such development is linked to language proficiency. The study also aimed to identify whether speech development is related cross-linguistically and to improve our understanding of error patterns in this population. Method: Thirty-five bilingual preschool children produced single-word speech samples in Spanish and English both at the beginning of their first and their second year in a Head Start Program. Conversational samples in both languages were also collected at these data points to calculate mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and thus assess the children's linguistic proficiency. The phonetically transcribed speech samples were compared over time in terms of segmental accuracy measures and error pattern frequencies. Correlation analyses were run to examine the relation between segmental accuracy measures across languages and between speech sound production and MLUw. Results: One-way within-subject analysis of variance revealed significant improvements in accuracy over time in both languages, but not always for cross-linguistically unshared segments, nor for all consonant manner classes. Overall error rates decreased over time in both languages; although, certain error types showed no change. Cross-linguistic interactions were low in both languages. The results also revealed significant cross-linguistic correlations in segmental accuracy between Spanish and English, as well as between MLUw and speech sound production in both languages on a range of measures, with language-specific differences in Year 2 of the Head Start Program, but not in Year 1. Conclusions: This study is the first to document developmental changes in the speech patterns of Spanish-English bilingual preschool children over 1 year. Accuracy rates improved significantly in both languages, suggesting that enhanced exposure to the majority language at school may not impede phonological development in the home language. Bootstrapping effects were particularly pronounced on cross-linguistically shared sounds, which suggests that the same underlying skills are utilized in both languages, whereas language-specific singleton consonants and consonant clusters did not appear to benefit from exposure to the other language. The results also suggest an intricate link between phonological skills and morphosyntactic performance at the early stages of development, but a more complex pattern thereafter with differences that may be based on language-specific phonological properties.

Digital games and gamelike contexts have become an integral part of young people's lives, and scholars have speculated about their potential to engage and enhance children's learning. Given that digital games are complex systems, we propose that different aspects of game features and game play might influence learning in different ways. Drawing on developmental and educational psychology theory and research, the article identifies 4 potential pathways of digital game influence: time, formal features, content, and context of use. Research findings from games and other technologies are presented to provide support for each pathway. The conceptual framework presented in the article will help to ensure learning from, with, and within games.

Many new and important developmental issues are encountered during adolescence, which is also a time when Internet use becomes increasingly popular. Studies have shown that adolescents are using these online spaces to address developmental issues, especially needs for intimacy and connection to others. Online communication with its potential for interacting with unknown others, may put teens at increased risk. Two hundred and fifty-one high school students completed an in-person survey, and 126 of these completed an additional online questionnaire about how and why they use the Internet, their activities on social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace) and their reasons for participation, and how they perceive these online spaces to impact their friendships. To examine the extent of overlap between online and offline friends, participants were asked to list the names of their top interaction partners offline and online (Facebook and instant messaging). Results reveal that adolescents mainly use social networking sites to connect with others, in particular with people known from offline contexts. While adolescents report little monitoring by their parents, there was no evidence that teens are putting themselves at risk by interacting with unknown others. Instead, adolescents seem to use the Internet, especially social networking sites, to connect with known others. While the study found moderate overlap between teens' closest online and offline friends, the patterns suggest that adolescents use online contexts to strengthen offline relationships. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

This paper seeks to connect adolescents' communication within on-line weblogs or blogs to developmental processes. A total of 195 English language blogs written by self-identified 14- to 18-year-olds were selected; three entries from each blog were analysed, resulting in a sample of 585 entries. Blogger demographics, self-presentation, and blog entries (format, style, content, and tone) were coded. The blog authors in our sample were overwhelmingly female and lived within the US; the majority were between 15- and 16-years of age. Bloggers utilized usernames and userpictures for self-presentation and in addition to gender, frequently presented information about their age and location. The majority of the entries used text, were narrative and reflective in style, and contained themes related to their authors' peers and everyday life. Emotional tone was present and entries with romantic, identity, and future-related themes often contained emotional tone. Blog authors seemed to be using blogs to create narratives and to reflect about the people and events in their lives. Our results show that adolescent bloggers project off-line themes to their blogs, suggesting that their on-line and off-line contexts are psychologically connected.

Social networking sites (e.g., MySpace and Facebook) are popular online communication forms among adolescents and emerging adults. Yet little is known about young people's activities on these sites and how their networks of "friends" relate to their other online (e.g., instant messaging) and offline networks. In this study, college students responded, in person and online, to questions about their online activities and closest friends in three contexts: social networking sites, instant messaging, and face-to-face. Results showed that participants often used the Internet, especially social networking sites, to connect and reconnect with friends and family members. Hence, there was overlap between participants' online and offline networks. However, the overlap was imperfect; the pattern suggested that emerging adults may use different online contexts to strengthen different aspects of their offline connections. Information from this survey is relevant to concerns about young people's life online. (Contains 4 figures and 5 tables.)

With the growing popularity of Internet communication applications among adolescents, the Internet has become an important social context for their development. This paper examined the relationship between adolescent online activity and well-being. Participants included 156 adolescents between 15 to 18.4 years of age who were surveyed about their access to and use of the Internet. Participants also completed measures of loneliness and perceived social support. An ANOVA suggested that loneliness was not related to the total time spent online, nor to the time spent on e-mail, but was related to participants' gender. Regression analyses suggested that gender and participants' perceptions regarding their online relationships were the only variables that predicted loneliness. Adolescents who felt that their relationship with online partners was one that they could turn to in times of need were more lonely. However, perceived support from significant others was not related to time spent online, time on e-mail, participants' relationships with online partners, and to their perceptions about these relationships. The implications of our results for researchers, parents, and other lay persons are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

The authors examined the online construction of identity and sexuality in a large sample of conversations from monitored and unmonitored teen chat rooms. More than half of the 583 participants (identified by a distinct screen name) communicated identity information, most frequently gender. In this way, participants compensated for the text-based chat environment by providing information about themselves that would be visible and obvious in face-to-face communication. Sexual themes constituted 5% of all utterances (1 sexual comment per minute); bad or obscene language constituted 3% of the sample (1 obscenity every 2 minutes). Participants who self-identified as female produced more implicit sexual communication, participants who self-identified as male produced more explicit sexual communication. The protected environment of monitored chat (hosts who enforce basic behavioral rules) contained an environment with less explicit sexuality and fewer obscenities than the freer environment of unmonitored chat. These differences were attributable both to the monitoring process itself and to the differing populations attracted to each type of chat room (monitored: more participants self-identified as younger and female; unmonitored: more participants self-identified as older and male).