Mothers’ Experience of Social Change and Individualistic Parenting Goals Over Two Generations in Urban China

During the past four decades, China has gone through rapid urbanization and modernization. As people adapt to dramatic sociodemographic shifts from rural communities to urban centers and as economic level rises, individualistic cultural values in China have increased. Meanwhile, parent and child behavior in early childhood has also evolved accordingly to match a more individualistic society. This mixed-method study investigated how social change in China may have impacted parenting goals and child development in middle childhood, as seen through the eyes of the current generation of mothers. Thirty mothers of fifth-grade elementary school students from Shenzhen, China were recruited and took part in semi-structured interviews. Participants answered questions and provided examples about their children’s life, their own childhood, and the perceived differences between the two generations. Participating mothers were also asked to rate which generation, themselves or their parents, cared more about the childrearing goals of academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being. Using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, we expected and found an intergenerational increase in the perceived value mothers placed on individualistic traits: current mothers care more about their children’s academic competitiveness, personal happiness, and social adjustment, compared to their experience of their own mothers’ attitudes during their childhood a generation earlier. They also experience conflict between their children’s academic competitiveness and socioemotional well-being. As a function of both urbanization and increased economic means, children’s collectivistic family responsibilities for essential household chores have declined as the importance of schoolwork has increased.

Designing a Dual Licensure Path for Middle Childhood and Special Education Teacher Candidates

This chapter focused on identifying ways to merge education courses and field hours to create a new dual licensure pathway for Middle Childhood Education and Special Education. The purpose was to adapt two programs to unify the competencies, dispositions, and collaborative practices of each program into one program producing highly effective teacher candidates with a dual license in Middle Childhood Education and Special Education. Attention was given to the importance of educating more teacher candidates with the capacity to meet the needs of all learners with an emphasis on those with exceptionalities and disabilities. The key implications and advantages of the effectiveness of combining a Middle Childhood and Special Education teaching license were apparent in the response from district office personnel, teachers, teacher candidates, and university faculty.

Play & Grow: prospective observational cohort of toddlers to inform obesity prevention, Columbus, Ohio, USA

PurposeObesity prevention is increasingly focused on early childhood, but toddlers have not been well-studied, and children born preterm are frequently excluded. The Play & Grow Cohort was established to investigate child growth in relation to parent-child interactions in mealtime and non-mealtime settings.ParticipantsBetween December 2017 and May 2019, 300 toddlers and primary caregivers were recruited from records of a large paediatric care provider in Columbus, Ohio, USA. This report describes recruitment of the cohort and outlines the data collection protocols for two toddler and two preschool-age visits. The first study visit coincided with enrolment and occurred when children (57% boys) were a mean (SD) calendar age of 18.2 (0.7) months.Findings to dateChildren in the cohort are diverse relative to gestational age at birth (16%, 28–31 completed weeks’ gestation; 21%, 32–36 weeks’ gestation; 63%, ≥37 weeks’ gestation) and race/ethnicity (8%, Hispanic; 35%, non-Hispanic black; 46%, non-Hispanic white). Caregivers enrolled in the cohort are primarily the child’s biological mother (93%) and are diverse in age (range 18–54 years), education (23%, high school or less; 20% graduate degree) and annual household income (27%, <US$20 000 24%, ≥US$90 000). Parent-child interactions were video-recorded during play in the laboratory at 18 months (n=299) and during play, reading and mealtime in the home (n=284) at 24 months. The preschool phase of the study was impacted by COVID-19. Parent-child interactions were video-recorded during play and mealtime at home at 36 months (n=141) and during a standardised buffet meal in the laboratory at 42 months (n=50). Caregivers unable to participate in face-to-face visits due to COVID-19 completed questionnaires.Future plansAssessment during middle childhood is being planned. Future visits will include anthropometric measurements and parent-child interactions at mealtime. School-based outcomes are additionally being considered.

Practicing What We Preach

Creating inclusive classrooms is a challenge in general education. To prepare new teachers for diverse K-12 classrooms, faculty at one Midwestern university redesigned their education program to prepare preservice teachers for dual licensure in general and special education. The redesign required middle childhood faculty to learn more about complex conceptual frameworks that are prioritized in school districts across the country. One of these, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), became a non-negotiable component of the new program. An essential learning outcome became preparing pre-service teachers to utilize UDL. After the program was approved, content-area faculty questioned whether they were prepared to implement the framework. Having varied expertise in UDL, faculty wondered if they were teaching UDL effectively, and questioned whether they were modeling UDL concepts with fidelity in their own teaching. Thus, the Dual Licensure Implementation Team (DLIT) was born. This case study describes the process and product of the team's effort to implement UDL with fidelity.

Dental Caries Prevalence among 3 - 14 Year Old School Children of Chitwan

Introduction: Dental caries, an infectious microbiologic disease of dental hard tissues is a global public health problem. It affects people of all ages with the highest priority risk group being school-going children. Objective: This study was done to assess the prevalence of dental caries in the 3-14 years old school children of Chitwan and to compare it across genders, age groups and school groups. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from January 2018 to May 2018 where WHO criteria was used to examine and calculate DMFT and dft (decayed filled teeth) indices among 360 school children. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS 20. Statistical significance was determined using independent t-test and ANOVA test. Results: The prevalence of the dental caries was found to be 85.83% with mean DMFT of 3.01 ± 2.24 among school children of Chitwan. Caries prevalence was higher in females compared to males, and in government schools compared to private school. Caries experience was highest in middle childhood group 7-12 years (89.20%, mean “DMFT+dft” 3.56 ± 2.33) followed by late childhood group of 13-14 years (84.72%, mean DMFT 2.68 ± 1.95) and early childhood group of 3-6 years (77.33%, mean dft 1.76 ± 1.60) and the differences were statistically significant. The difference in caries experience between private and government school groups as well as in male and female children was not statistically significant. 82.7% of the children had untreated caries while only 5.83% had filled teeth in their mouth. Conclusions: The prevalence of dental caries was higher in middle childhood group and higher percentage of untreated decays, calls for the need of immediate preventive as well as curative interventions.

Longitudinal pathways between emotional difficulties and school absenteeism in middle childhood: Evidence from developmental cascades

Emotional difficulties are associated with both authorized and unauthorized school absence, but there has been little longitudinal research and the temporal nature of these associations remains unclear. This study presents three-wave random-intercepts panel models of longitudinal reciprocal relationships between teacher-reported emotional difficulties and authorized and unauthorized school absence in 2,542 English children aged 6 to 9 years old at baseline, who were followed-up annually. Minor differences in the stability effects were observed between genders but only for the authorized absence model. Across all time points, children with greater emotional difficulties had more absences, and vice versa (authorized: ρ = .23–.29, p < .01; unauthorized: ρ = .28, p < .01). At the within-person level, concurrent associations showed that emotional difficulties were associated with greater authorized (β = .15–.17, p < .01) absence at Time 3 only, but with less unauthorized (β = −.08–.13, p < .05) absence at Times 1 and 2. In cross-lagged pathways, neither authorized nor unauthorized absence predicted later emotional difficulties, and emotional difficulties did not predict later authorized absence at any time point. However, greater emotional difficulties were associated with fewer unauthorized absences across time (β = −13–.22, p < .001). The implications of these findings are discussed.

Mother–Child Relationships in U.S. Latinx Families in Middle Childhood: Opportunities and Challenges in the 21st Century

The 21st century has brought unique opportunities and challenges for parents, and this is particularly true for Latinx families, whose children comprise more than one-fourth of the school-age population in the U.S. today. Taking an ecological and strengths-based approach, the current study examined the role of mothers’ cultural assets (familism values, family cohesion) and challenges (economic hardship, ethnic–race-based discrimination) on children’s educational adjustment in middle childhood, as well as the indirect role of mother–child warmth and conflict in these associations. The sample included 173 Latinx mothers and their middle childhood offspring (i.e., 5th graders and younger sisters/brothers in the 1st through 4th grade). Mothers participated in home visits and phone interviews and teachers provided ratings of children’s educational adjustment (academic and socioemotional competence, aggressive/oppositional behaviors). Findings revealed family cohesion was indirectly linked to children’s educational adjustment via mother–child warmth and conflict, particularly for younger siblings. Discussion focuses on the culturally based strengths of Latinx families and highlights potential implications for family-based prevention in middle childhood.