A Humanistic Approach to Understanding Child Consumer Socialization in US Homes

We present findings from a qualitative, multisite, multi-method, longitudinal study of parents and their preschool-aged children that explores the intersections of marketing influences in the home and in the larger outside world of children. Findings indicate that preschoolers represent complicated and nuanced “consumers in training” beyond predictions based on their “perceptual stage of development.” Specifically, our data revealed interesting ways in which marketing and consumer culture can foster a number of pro-social consumer outcomes (e.g., charity, gift-giving, financial literacy). We also noted an emerging understanding by preschoolers of the social meanings of goods for identity construction and product evaluation. Finally, through a presentation of an idiographic case, we show how consumer socialization cannot be attributed to one factor such as media but is based on multiple and concurrent factors—parents, siblings, peers, and home environment—that act to moderate, mediate, and provide meaning for marketing messages.     

Lung function in 3-5-year-old children with cystic fibrosis

It is well established that the lung disease of CF can occur early in life and may progress through the preschool years when accurate lung function assessment has been challenging to perform. We hypothesized that respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP) and spirometry could be effectively performed in 3-6-year-old children and could be used to assess both longitudinal changes in lung function and the acute changes that occur during exacerbation of pulmonary disease. Both RIP and spirometry were equally feasible; however, the success rate for spirometry gradually increased with age to become higher than that for RIP in the 6-year-old subjects. Forty-four subjects were studied longitudinally and demonstrated significant increases in FVC, FEV(1), and FEV(0.5), but not in FEF(25-75) or RIP variables. There were significant differences in FVC, FEV(1), and phase angle (a measure of thoracoabdominal asynchrony) during exacerbations of lung disease. Although both RIP and spirometry were able to show differences in lung function in subjects with acute clinical worsening, spirometry was more robust in demonstrating change in lung function longitudinally and in children who had an exacerbation of lung disease.     

Preschoolers' Memory for Threatening Information Depends on Trauma History and Attentional Context: Implications for the Development of Dissociation

ABSTRACT

Although the roots of dissociative ability are thought to lie in early childhood, little is understood about how or why children dissociate or how dissociative abilities develop over time. Previous cognitive studies of adults suggest that some dissociative adults use divided attention to keep threatening information out of awareness (DePrince & Freyd, 1999, 2001). This study utilized a divided attention memory task similar to those used by DePrince and Freyd (DePrince & Freyd, 1999), but modified for four-and five-year-olds. Contrary to prediction, children with relatively high dissociation scores did not differ in their memory for charged and neutral pictures under divided attention when compared to children with low dissociation scores. Consistent with predictions, under divided attention, abused children remembered fewer charged pictures relative to non-abused children. The same pattern was found when comparing abused children with high dissociation scores to non-abused children with low dissociation scores. These results are consistent with the idea that some traumatized people use divided attention to keep threatening information out of awareness. Results are discussed in terms of a developmental theory of dissociation.     

The South African universal preschool year: a case study of policy development and implementation

Background

South Africa is the first sub‐Saharan African country to legislate, fund and implement free preschool education. Human rights and restitution were at the forefront of the political struggle for democracy in South Africa. Levelling the playing fields by improving the school readiness of children disadvantaged by the racist policies of Apartheid is essential to the transformation of South African society.

Methods

A review of published and unpublished documents on Grade R was undertaken, and access and enrolment data come from the National Department of Basic Education's Education Management Information System (EMIS).

Results

A decade after initiation in 2005, 79% of 5‐year‐olds was enrolled in a preschool class; the vast majority of them in free public schools. Grade R is near universal and on track to becoming compulsory. It is part of the Foundation Phase (Grades 1–3) of schooling, falling under the Department of Basic Education, but also part of a broader national strategy to improve early child development under the direction of an Inter‐Departmental Steering. Evaluations demonstrate wide access to Grade R and high uptake, especially in the poorest areas. However, the quality of Grade R provision in these areas is not up to standard because of low levels of funding; inadequate training, supervision, remuneration and retention of Grade R teachers; insufficient learner support materials; and inadequate monitoring and quality assurance.

Conclusions

Lack of quality, amongst other factors, contributes to a widening school performance gap between children from more and less privileged areas. Quality of Grade R as well as earlier learning and subsequent years of schooling must be improved to achieve South Africa's aim to reduce poverty and inequality through, amongst others, parent and family involvement, learning in the home and preschool preparation.