Gender gaps in preschool age: A study of behavior, neurodevelopment and pre-academic skills

2020 ◽  
pp. 140349482094474
Author(s):  
Ragnhild E. Brandlistuen ◽  
Martin Flatø ◽  
Camilla Stoltenberg ◽  
Siri S. Helland ◽  
Mari V. Wang
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Externalizing Behavior ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Internalizing Behavior ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

Background: Female educational advantage is evident from elementary school and throughout the education system. Understanding the gender differences that precede school entry might provide important insight as to why girls outperform boys later in their educational careers. Aims: The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in early literacy and numeracy skills, as well as a range of neurodevelopmental and behavioral domains between the age of five and six years. Methods: We used questionnaire data from preschool teachers in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study reported for 7467 children attending the final year in preschool, to explore gender differences and age patterns by fitting flexible regression models predicting pre-academic, behavioral and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Results: We found gender differences favoring girls for all outcomes except internalizing behavior. For neurodevelopment and behavior, differences in adjusted standardized scores ranged from 46% of a standard deviation (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.41, 0.50) in overall school readiness to 31% of a standard deviation difference in externalizing behavior problems (CI 0.21, 0.41). We found gender differences for all literacy skills in favor of girls. The gender gap in naming and adding numbers was small, but in favor of girls. Increasing age was associated with improved pre-academic skills and school readiness, as well as reduction of attention problems and language difficulties, the latter especially for boys. Conclusions: We conclude that gender differences favoring girls exist prior to school entry for a broad range of pre-academic, behavioral and neurodevelopmental skills relevant to school functioning.

Observing the Interethnic Friendships in Elementary and Secondary Religion-Based School

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adib Rifqi Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Externalizing Behavior ◽  
Internalizing Behavior ◽  
Acting Out ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Older Children ◽  
School Students ◽  
School Year ◽  
Interethnic Friendships ◽  
Level I

Friendships provide opportunities to build empathy and practice social skills. Being friends with ethnically diverse peers can create opportunities for academic and social learning different from the opportunities afforded by same-ethnic friendships. Through my observation, I had been finding that elementary and secondary school students are less likely to have friends of a different ethnic — even from the beginning to the end of a single school year, as they progress in school. My observation show that most childhood friendships are formed in classrooms, but children tend to form friendships with others of their own ethnicity, with interethnic friendships decreasing across ages and grades. The observation looked at student and classroom factors that affect the likelihood of children forming friendships across ethnic. On an individual or student level, I looked at age, ethnic, and psychosocial factors, including sociability, internalizing behavior (such as worrying or feeling sad) and externalizing behavior (such as acting out or getting in trouble). I also examined factors related to classroom context, including teacher support, whether teachers treat students with varying levels of academic achievement differently, and competition among students. Results suggest that same-ethnic friendships increase over the school year, with greater increases among white and older children. Externalizing behavior predicted a greater increase in same-ethnic friendships, particularly among ‘domestic’ (Javanese: ‘cah kene dewe’) students. Teachers and classroom context influenced student friendships in two different ways. It suggests that teachers may make a difference in how students select and maintain friends. Classroom support -- measured by student perceptions of teachers' warmth, respect, and trust -- predicted less of an increase in same-ethnic friendships from fall to spring. In last, my observation points to the need not just for diverse schools, but also for teachers to foster classrooms where students and teachers support one another, and social and academic hierarchies are not dominant, which could increase the likelihood of students developing and maintaining interethnic friendships.

scholarly journals Phonological Awareness and Print Knowledge of Preschool Children With Cochlear Implants

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 811-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie E. Ambrose ◽  
Marc E. Fey ◽  
Laurie S. Eisenberg
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Sample Mean ◽  
Print Knowledge ◽  
Age Appropriate

PurposeTo determine whether preschool-age children with cochlear implants have age-appropriate phonological awareness and print knowledge and to examine the relationships of these skills with related speech and language abilities.MethodThe sample comprised 24 children with cochlear implants (CIs) and 23 peers with normal hearing (NH), ages 36 to 60 months. Children's print knowledge, phonological awareness, language, speech production, and speech perception abilities were assessed.ResultsFor phonological awareness, the CI group's mean score fell within one standard deviation of the Test of Preschool Early Literacy's (Lonigan, Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 2007) normative sample mean but was more than one standard deviation below the NH group mean. The CI group's performance did not differ significantly from that of the NH group for print knowledge. For the CI group, phonological awareness and print knowledge were significantly correlated with language, speech production, and speech perception. Together these predictor variables accounted for 34% of variance in the CI group's phonological awareness but no significant variance in their print knowledge.ConclusionsChildren with CIs have the potential to develop age-appropriate early literacy skills by preschool age but are likely to lag behind their NH peers in phonological awareness. Intervention programs serving these children should target these skills with instruction and by facilitating speech and language development.

scholarly journals Do aggression and impulsivity dominate dark triad across genders?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupriya Singh ◽  
Aisha Naeem ◽  
Komal Chandiramani
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Correlation Method ◽  
Dark Triad ◽  
T Test ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Significant Relationships

The study investigated gender differences in Overall Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy), Aggression, Impulsivity, and impact of Dark triad on Aggression and Impulsivity. Data was collected from 214 young adults. Analyses was done using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). T-test was employed to analyze gender differences. Pearson Correlation Method and Multiple regression were used to assess the relation and prediction amongst the variables, respectively. T-test suggested significant gender differences in Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Overall Dark Triad, with females scoring high than males. No gender difference was observed in Aggression and Impulsivity. Correlation and regression analyses revealed several significant relationships between the above constructs. The research was concluded by briefly foregrounding some of the study’s implications and future directions.

Early Conceptual Understanding of Cardinality Predicts Superior School-Entry Number-System Knowledge

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Geary ◽  
Kristy vanMarle ◽  
Felicia W. Chu ◽  
Jeffrey Rouder ◽  
Mary K. Hoard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Achievement ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Number System ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
System Knowledge

We demonstrate a link between preschoolers’ quantitative competencies and their school-entry knowledge of the relations among numbers (number-system knowledge). The quantitative competencies of 141 children (69 boys) were assessed at the beginning of preschool and throughout the next 2 years of preschool, as was their mathematics and reading achievement at the end of kindergarten and their number-system knowledge at the beginning of first grade. A combination of Bayes analyses and standard regressions revealed that the age at which the children had the conceptual insight that number words represent specific quantities (cardinal value) was strongly related to their later number-system knowledge and was more consistently related to broader mathematics than to reading achievement, controlling for intelligence, executive function, and parental education levels. The key implication is that it is not simply knowledge of cardinal value but the age of acquisition of this principle that is central to later mathematical development and school readiness.

Effects of a modular teacher coaching program on child attention problems and disruptive behavior and on teachers’ self-efficacy and stress

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 543-568
Author(s):  
Charlotte Hanisch ◽  
Ilka Eichelberger ◽  
Stefanie Richard ◽  
Manfred Doepfner
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Problems ◽  
Problem Behavior ◽  
Disruptive Behavior ◽  
Externalizing Behavior ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Severe Problem ◽  
Functional Behavior ◽  
Oppositional Defiant

Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity and oppositional defiant disorder are associated with a multitude of psychosocial developmental risks, e.g. academic underachievement. Various cognitive behavioral interventions have proven to be effective in reducing problem behavior in school settings. Drawing on this previous work and on our parent-focused preventive and therapeutic programs, we developed the school-based coaching for elementary school teachers of children with attention deficits or disruptive behavior problems (SCEP). Based on functional behavior assessment, SCEP addresses teachers of children with severe externalizing behavior problems in an individualized modular manner. It consists of a one-day training course and fortnightly one-to-one or team-coaching sessions. We analyzed the effects of SCEP in a within-subject control group design ( N = 60), with student attention problems and rule-breaking behavior during class as the primary outcome measure. SCEP was found to reduce problem behavior during lessons, with small to medium effect sizes ( d = 0.42–0.6). After the intervention, teachers reported changes in their use of praise and felt more confident managing the class ( d = 0.58). The results of SCEP are discussed in light of multi-tiered preventive approaches that suggest extensive individualized interventions based on functional behavior analysis for children with severe problem behavior.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document