Children's Behavior During Immunization Injections: A Principle Components Analysis

Observational assessment is an important component of a comprehensive evaluation of children's procedural pain. An understanding of children's behavior during painful procedures can inform the structure of these measures and is important in the development of effective interventions. This study used principle components analyses to evaluate the structure of children's behavior during routine immunizations. Videotapes of 159 children undergoing routine immunizations were coded using the Child-Adult Medical Procedure Interaction Scale (Blount et al., 1989). Results indicated a 4-component solution was the most appropriate categorization and accounted for 61.2% of the variance in children's behavior. The first 3 components represented “verbal fear” (seeking emotional support, verbal fear, information seeking), “vocal pain” (cry, verbal resistance, verbal pain), and “escape behavior” (need for restraint, flail). The final component, “other verbal behavior” consisted of nonprocedural talk and negative verbal emotion. Taken together, the preliminary results of the correlational analyses and the subsequent principal components analyses support the assertion that children's distress is a multidimensional experience and should be evaluated as such. Attention to multiple dimensions of distress is important in the evaluation of interventions as they may differentially target these dimensions.     

The Contextuality of Children's Communication Difficulties in Specialist Practice: A Sociological Account

This paper reports findings from fieldwork in situations that brought young children and child welfare practitioners together with the aim of diagnosing and treating children's communication difficulties. The findings suggest that communication difficulties tend to be treated as a property of the individual child rather than as an emergent, contextual property of interaction. The attention will be steered from clinical definitions of “impairment” and “disability” to dynamics of social interaction, where understandings of “good” and “normal” communication play a central role. The findings have implications for current recommendations for good practice, which derive from needs-led, rights-led and skills-led approaches.     

Intentions underlying practice in nursery schools and classes

The tradition which prescribes “good practice” within nursery education makes it difficult to examine anything other than the “surface curriculum” (Bussis et al1976). In this study, qualitative analysis of focussed interviews with twenty four nursery teachers indicates that many of the teachers faced a number of dilemmas in implementing a nursery curriculum, and in relating theory to practice. A curriculum placing heavy emphasis on sound relationships is evident at every level of nursery life. Teachers make both longand short-term plans within the nursery while at the same time seeking to extend children's interests in a variety of ways. They also strive to observe and record children's development and progress as effectively as possible.     

Teachers' Social Capital: giving of oneself

Social Capital enables teachers/caregivers to invest themselves affectively, through their behaviours, in efforts toward children's achievement. Its five dimensions, combined and implemented, allow preschool practitioners to strengthen their care of young children, and thus, increase the chances of teaching effectiveness. This concept embodies the notion that “giving of oneself to childcare insures children's learning”.     

Teacher talk in preschool settings

In the context of a large, and growing literature on the nature and influence of parents' talk ("motherese") in children's language development, this paper investigates the nature and possible influence of teachers' talk in early childhood settings. The relevant literature on both “motherese” and “teacherese” is briefly reviewed in order to establish the context in which the major findings of two recent Australian investigations of teachers, mothers and children are discussed. These studies analysed the “public” talk of teachers and children in the classroom, the talk of teachers and mothers in “private” conversations with their children, and the relationship of both the mothers' and the teachers' language and conversational styles to the childrens' progress in language development measured over a school year. Using, in all, thirty kindergartens located in a wide range of suburbs and inner city areas of Melbourne, the language abilities of 4-year-old children, evaluated using measures of spontaneous speech and standard test performance, were assessed at the beginning and end of their first year of preschool education, and correlated with a range of features of their mothers' and teachers' conversational styles with them. The influence of the socio-economic status of their parents and preschool population and the children's gender were also investigated. The results of both investigations, taken together, presented a complex picture of the relationship of aspects of children's language development in the preschool period with features of their teachers' and parents' verbal interactions with them. Previous research, conducted in England and America, indicating the teachers and parents speak to children in very different ways, was clearly confirmed. These differences were even shown to exist in their styles of conducting private conversations with the same children and significantly affected the way the children responded. On the other hand, no differences relating to gender or social class emerged. It is concluded that while parents' speech and conversational styles may be of greater assistance to children in the areas of general communicativeness and conversational competence, teachers' styles were more related to improvements in linguistic complexity. Thus, the possibility of a planned partnership of parents and teachers in promoting children's language development is raised.     

The efficacy of the parent-teacher “partnership” of the 1990s

The 1990s are times of rapid social and technological change. There are many unknowns that face both adults and children. We all have problems that need resolution. The time when adults “knew” the answers and children learned by “watching” echo faintly in the whirl of scientific change which is impacting on most aspects of our daily life. As early childhood teachers we have to learn to enquire, to listen, to think together with children, their families and society. The concept of negotiation is central to communication while the basic tenet of the process focusses not on the person but the issue. It is in these times of rapid change that we need to deepen our understanding of the family and further our professional insights by “tapping” the wealth of crucial kndowledge that parents have about their children. Hurst asserts that the partnership of parents in issues of their children's education:

“is probably the greatest single opportunity for educational advance open to teachers today”.

Hurst: 1987; 109     

Consumer characteristics, food related attitudes and consumption of meat and meat products

Consumer respondents (203) in the metro-Atlanta statistical area answered a detailed questionnaire pertaining to their attitudes and perceptions of different food groups and food uses. Factor analyses resulted in five food attitude, two food item and three food-use appropriateness factors. The food attitude factors were “Like to Cook”, “Organizational”, “Adventurous”, “Convenience driven” and “Nutrition conscious but casual meal planner”. Food item factors were “Main dish” and “Snack”, Food-use appropriateness factors were “Social”, “Satiety” and “Casual”. A significant correlation between nutrition knowledge and nutrition concern, but not food attitude scores, was found. The “Organizational” factor correlated with the most numbers of variables and “Like to Cook” the least. Results of the respondents in this study indicate that consumers in this sample are leading mobile, dynamic and service oriented lifestyles.     

Parent-teacher involvement benefits everyone

Most educators accept that active involvement of parents in their children's education improves children's development and their academic success. Strong family backgrounds — i.e., the mother's education#shemployment focuses on school-type skills that are used to teach the children and the father encourages learning — influence high academic success for children. The roles parents assume in their children's education are key to children's overall development and achievements. Parents, involved as “teachers,” policy-makers, partners with school staff, and community liaisons, enable schools to address the developmental needs of their children. With improved preparation, teachers can be taught to work with parents and use them as allies in promoting their children's growth and development. They learn to encourage parents to provide good educational environments at home for their children and to teach them in out-of-school settings. As school personnel form partnerships with children's parents — everyone will benefit: parents expand their horizons by sharpening their own skills, their children achieve and seem to like learning, teachers seem to affect children's learning with less difficulty and behavior problems, and the entire community improves.     

Feinstein and study design

Dr. Alvan Feinstein saw himself as the father of “clinical epidemiology” in the modern meaning of this term, of this “new intellectual domain of modern medical science.” In this role, he saw himself as drawing from his “clinical sophistication” and from “the rigorous scientific demands” to which “clinicians are accustomed,” while “public health” epidemiologists “often use a more arbitrary set of standards.” His conception of the scope of clinical epidemiology was remarkably Catholic and the same was the case in respect to cause-effect research in it. In the latter, he was firmly committed to the randomized-trial paradigm, including in his teachings on study design in etiologic research. Characteristically original, many of Dr. Feinstein's study-design ideas remain controversial.     

Family life: the place of children's work around the house

Cultural groups vary considerably in their expectations of work around the house by children, and these variations provide a window for viewing ideas about the nature of children and of family life. This paper provides (a) a summary of differences found between two cultural groups in Australia (Australian-born and Lebanese-born), (b) a review of differences found within historical studies and within other cross-cultural comparisons, and (c) a report on approaches and concepts to children's work within a further Australian-born group (a report that considers views about money for work as well as some general underlying principles about work that can legitimately be asked of others and work that cannot). The important differences among cultures, it is argued, have to do not only with the expectations of work, but also with the way parents mark some jobs as different from others (e.g. “regular” vs. “extra”, boys' work or girls' work, can be pased on vs. cannot be), and with the way they use, as a sign of whether a child is acquiring the desired concepts of family life, the child's understanding of phrases such as “your job” and the child's recognition of the mother's work.     

A qualitative study of caregivers' attitudes about child care

Thirty-one caregivers and directors involved in various types of day care for young children were interviewed. Qualitative methods were used to assess their role identity constructs and attitudes toward parents and the child care profession. Caregivers thought of themselves as “mothers,” “grandmothers,” or “teachers.” These social role identities clustered with attitudes about parents and professional role (e.g., “mothers” tended to see parents as neglectful, while “teachers” felt parents failed to reinforce progress made in day care). The authors concluded that conflict over attachment issues contributed to problems between parents and caregivers.     

Young Children's Interaction With a Microcomputer

While research on the effects of computers in classrooms and the effects of teaching computer languages is burgeoning, the question of how children interact “naturally” with a computer has not been researched. In order to observe children's interaction with a computer, an Apple II was placed in a university laboratory school classroom. Thirty-nine children were allowed free access to the computer during center time and detailed observational logs were kept of the children's interaction with the computer. It was determined from this base study that computer play for young children is an initial step in computer literacy.     

Children's work code: a Western Australian study

Children's Work Code is based on a Ph D thesis which documents the acquisition of ideas about work of children at the end of their final years of primary schooling. The research undertaken adopts an ethnographic perspective and involves over one hundred children in a rural setting. In documenting their ideas about work, due recognition is given to the ideas directly expressed by the children. However, the study goes beyond the children's explicit expressions to probe the organizing principles that generate their ideas about work. This is based on the thesis that knowledge of work is shared by individuals through a socially generated code similar to that of language. As with language, this “work code” is acquired by individuals in a social context and at an early age, but because the process of acquisition is largely unconscious, the code is rarely articulated. The ultimate task of this study is the articulation of the children's work code. Two central concepts are those of code and the culture of childhood.

This article looks at one aspect of the children's work code. It describes the three principal work domains through which the children in the study learnt about work, those of school, the domain of home chores and the world of adult work. These formed the immediate social context generating their “work code”.     

Togetherness — A Manifestation of Day Care Life

This article discusses togetherness in the day care centre. In what way and in which situations is togetherness expressed among children? “What is the impact of adults on the rise and development of togetherness?” Answers to these questions were sought by making use of observations carried out in a cooperative Nordic study of the quality of children's lives in Danish, Finnish and Swedish day care centres. The data were collected by observing five-year-old children during their daily activities in seven day care centres. Attention was paid to relations between the children and adults as well as to the objects — in the sense of contents and objectives of ongoing activities. What do individual children do and why do they do it? “What is the object of the educator and the whole group? In what ways do the children and the educators participate in joint activity?” In this article, only the objects of activities and the relations connected with the theme of togetherness are taken into consideration. The study describes how the general object of togetherness has to do with positive emotional relations. This poses an interesting question: How, do positive emotional relations and togetherness, in turn, contribute to children's development and learning? By means of this study, only some hypotheses can be made: togetherness might be an important factor in building a real community of learners, not only in the day care centre but perhaps also in other educational settings.     

Art development and play

There exists a considerable international body of research and theory into children's art development. Art education is generally considered to proceed through a sequential series of stages beginning with the earliest scribbles. This paper seeks to link alternative sources of knowledge deriving from the theory and research into the studies of the development of perceptual awareness. These are modes by which children take in sensory impressions and come to know the world around them. The content of these sensory impressions is culturally linked and becomes the raw material for the symbols and images that the children know and make.

There is also a significant body of recent research into levels of children's play which should be evaluated in relation to what it can tell teachers and parents about optimal ways to ensure the circumstances that enhance children's long term development. The case for play as we now know it says that it is not valid to believe that any play will do. Qualitatively different levels of play have been shown to have different values for children. “Guided play” or “stretching play” has been shown to be positively associated with play with adults as partners or companions. Play with art materials has also been associated with higher levels of stretching play. The adult partner's role has been found to provide the “scaffolding” to which these higher levels of play are linked.

These findings on play, together with the social patterns whereby more young children are in group play programs raises the curriculum implications for teachers and care givers. These adults moderate the sensory and social experiences and the curriculum materials provided for children during the day. Teachers need to be aware of providing the partnerships in play with art materials, the need to encourage children's interest in sensory experiences and the processes whereby children learn through their hands as well as their eyes. The environment of play program is also important. The quality of the visual environment, the quality of design of play materials and all equipment with which young children have daily contact have their aesthetic influence. Program factors also include the conscious provision of an art curriculum, with regular visits to Art Galleries and Art Museums, as well as opportunities for free play in parks and gardens.     

Convergent or divergent? Teacher questions to three-year-old children in day care

Open-ended, divergent questions have been found to be important for children's cognitive and language development. However, there is a paucity of research concerning the types of questions that teachers ask in day care centers that serve primarily children from low-income families. In this study, the types of teachers' questions to 50 three-year-olds [25 boys and 25 girls] from low-income families were analyzed. The total sample of 36-42 month-old children was observed in 10 day care centers. Each child was observed for 80 minutes across five typical day care settings. All of the “true” questions were coded as convergent or divergent, and the children's responses to these questions were analyzed. There were a total of 667 “true” questions asked during approximately 70 hours of observation. For both boys and girls, 88#pc of the questions were convergent and 12#pc divergent. The children were equally compliant to convergent and divergent questions. These day care children were overwhelmingly asked convergent questions [p #lt.001] by teachers. Three-year-olds are equally capable of answering divergent and convergent questions. These results indicate that teachers need training in how to ask more divergent questions to young children in order to enhance language and cognitive development.     

Indexes and boundaries for “quantitative significance” in statistical decisions

Boundaries for S, representing a “quantitatively significant” or “substantively impressive” distinction, have not been established, analogous to the boundary of , usually set at 0.05, for the stochastic or probabilistic component of “statistical significance”. To determine what boundaries are being used for the “quantitative” decisions, we reviewed pertinent articles in three general medical journals. For each contrast of two means, contrast of two rates, or correlation coefficient, we noted the investigators' decisions about stochastic significance, stated in P values or confidence intervals, and about quantitative significance, indicated by interpretive comments.

The boundaries between impressive and unimpressive distinctions were best formed by a ratio of 1.2 for the smaller to the larger mean in 546 comparisons, by a standardized increment of 0.28 and odds ratio of 2.2 in 392 comparisons of two rates; and by an r value of 0.32 in 154 correlation coefficients. Additional boundaries were also identified for “substantially” and “highly” significant quantitative distinctions.

Although the proposed boundaries should be kept flexible, indexes and boundaries for decisions about “quantitative significance” are particularly useful when a value of δ must be chosen for calculating sample size before the research is done, and when the “statistical significance” of completed research is appraised for its quantitative as well as stochastic components.     

Associations between peer relations in childhood and adversity

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the sociometric status of rejection or popularity of children in the peer group and their family background and life events. The subjects were black South African children aged between 8 years and 12 years and 3 months, living in a semi-urban area in one of the former “homelands”. The children's peer status was assessed using the sociometric method developed by Newcomb and Bukowsky #op1983#cp. Out of six hundred and thirty-one children tested, 29 were nominated as popular and 29 as rejected. The families were interviewed regarding their background and the children's recent life events. Results showed that different family backgrounds were associated with the children's status popularity or rejection in the peer group. It was also shown that the experience of recent stressful life events is associated with peer rejection in childhood. The main findings of this study are that children encountering difficulties in the peer group came from families experiencing multiple chronic and acute stressors and that the effects of multiple adversities on children's peer relationships were cumulative.     

Optimism in Parental Predictions of Children's Future Behaviour

One important aspect of parents' beliefs about their children's development is that they may be biased towards optimism (Goodnow, Cashmore, Cotton, and Knight, 1984). To test this, 74 parents were asked to judge whether their 5-year-old children would increase or decrease on each of 10 personal qualities from the time of the written interview until the age of 15. Qualities could be rated positively or negatively; parents also rated the qualities' prevalence in girls or boys. Parents expected increases over age in the “male” quality of liking competition, the “female” quality of being able to sit still, and the neutral qualities of independence and self-confidence, while they expected decreases with age for the male quality of being sloppy and the female quality of being easily upset by mistakes. Thus there was no evidence that gender-appropriateness of a factor would override its positiveness. There were no significant gender effects; parents appeared to be optimistic about their child's future qualities, whether they were judging a daughter or son.