Child Development Study Research Articles

Examining the Effects of Maternal Chronic Illness on Child Well-Being in Single Parent Families

Chronic illness is highly prevalent among adults with children. It is therefore important to understand how parental illness may or may not have an impact on affected families. Findings thus far have suggested that differences between children with and without a sick parent are minimal, but there are individual and familial moderators of outcome. It is unclear whether these results are generalizable to single-parent families. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether maternal chronic illness affects multiple aspects of child functioning in a large, ethnically diverse sample of single-parent families compared to those not affected by illness. Potential moderators of differences, including maternal distress, parenting variables (aggravation and warmth), functional impairment related to illness, and demographic characteristics were also tested. Using data from the Child Development Study (CDS), 812 mother-child pairs were studied. Mothers completed measures of child internalizing, externalizing, and positive behaviors, while children completed a measure of depression. The results indicated that overall there were no differences between children with or without a sick mother on the measures of well-being. Higher symptom levels among both cohorts were associated with maternal distress and aggravation in parenting only. However, children with a sick mother were more likely to have a consultation due to emotional difficulties. Several areas for future work on how illness affects single-parent families were identified such as prospectively studying illnesses with a variable course and determining which protective factors promote resiliency for children in this difficult situation.

Patterns of Single Mothers' Work and Welfare Use

Few studies have captured the variation in single mothers' work and welfare experiences and the implications for children. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Child Development Study, this study examines patterns of wages, work hours, and time spent on welfare in relation to children's well-being ( N = 820). Six patterns emerged and were related to differences in children's outcomes, with lower well-being among children whose mothers had left welfare for work or who stayed on welfare. Findings differed by children's age and gender among some groups. Considering how these patterns relate to children may help in the design and implementation of programs or services.

Child growth as a measure of livelihood security: The case of the Gwembe Tonga

This article outlines an approach to the study of child growth and development in adverse environments that utilizes growth to measure the success of the human/environment interaction. This type of biocultural, human adaptability perspective focuses on within group variation to gain an understanding of the differential ability of households to negotiate opportunities and constraints in the ecological/social/cultural environment. As an example, we report preliminary findings of on-going research in a migrant Gwembe Tonga community in Zambia. Our analysis indicates that average height-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores of school children are below international references, representing compromised community well-being in context of new and shifting environments. We report variation in average household child height-for-age z-scores that is linked to differential livelihood strategies in the community. We conclude that in the context of shared circumstances that focus risk for poor health on this community as a whole, the ability of households to adapt to their circumstances varies as evidenced by differential growth outcomes.

Measuring salivary cortisol in studies of child development: Watch out—what goes in may not come out of saliva collection devices

Technical advances that enable the noninvasive measurement of biomarkers in saliva have spawned a generation of investigations that integrate biological variables into behavioral and developmental research. This study examines whether the collection of saliva, using common absorbent devices compromises the measurement of cortisol when saliva specimens have low sample volume. Within subjects (n = 20), saliva samples were prepared to experimentally represent a gradient of lower to higher sample volumes. One aliquot was immediately frozen (no treatment control) and the remaining aliquots were absorbed ("collected") using one of three collection techniques employed in studies of child development (e.g., braided cotton dental rope, Salivette cotton pledget, or hydrocellulose microsponge). The sample volume recovered from each device relative to the initial volume available to be absorbed, and cortisol level recovered from each device relative to the untreated-control condition were measured. Results reveal that for certain collection devices (1) the percent volume recovered is related to the initial volume available to be absorbed, (2) a substantial percentage of cortisol in saliva specimens can remain in absorbent material, and (3) the percent of cortisol recovered can be associated with the initial sample volume available to be absorbed. When research participants, such as young children, produce low volume saliva specimens, some absorbent devices may have the potential to introduce error variance in the measurement of salivary cortisol.

Unconscious Fantasy: A Once and Future Concept

The concept of unconscious fantasy should be retained as fundamental to any psychoanalytic approach. The concept is reexamined in the face of two challenges: today's theoretical pluralism and the recent integration of findings from academic research. The first section reviews post-Freudian theoretical contributions to Freud's original concept, concluding that in its evolved form it is flexible enough to serve multiple perspectives. The second section examines four features identified with primary process thinking, demonstrating that a model of early mentation based on adult dream work cannot be supported by research on early development. However, the contemporary concept of unconscious fantasy is compatible with research findings from child development studies and cognitive neuroscience, permitting psychoanalysts to enter dialogue with those fields. Our contribution is not the posit of a new form of thinking (primary process) but an understanding of how general cognitive processes are enlisted for motivated purposes.

Capacity Building in Environmental Health Research in India and Nepal

The Fogarty International Training and Research Program in Environmental and Occupational Health at UC Berkeley concentrates on two major environmental health issues in the Indian subcontinent: arsenic in drinking water in West Bengal, India, and indoor air pollution in India and Nepal. Local trainees and researchers have had the opportunity to work on related research. Concerning arsenic in drinking water, projects included studies of skin lesions, pulmonary effects, reproductive outcomes, and child development, as well as mitigation approaches to reduce exposures. Activities in the indoor air pollution project have emphasized quantifying exposures to smoke from cooking and heating as well as their associations with tuberculosis and eye disease. Training has focused on developing skills necessary to address these problems. The training emphasizes in-country mentoring of trainees related to their research projects, and intensive short courses at partner institutions. The focus of capacity building in environmental health research in countries in economic and environmental transition should be on country-based research projects with embedded training efforts.

Opening up pathways: Reconsidering longitudinal health research

This article engages with a common model of ‘pathway’ in longitudinal health research. National studies of child health and development are taken as ‘signature’ research into how life pathways can be tracked by social scientists. The work of the philosopher Lingis is used to show how contemporary social theory can enlarge our propositions about life pathways and how they are shaped. No specific longitudinal health studies are critiqued, rather the analysis is at a conceptual level aiming to highlight new ways of thinking about events in time, forces, and lived experience.

Association of DDT and DDE With Birth Weight and Length of Gestation in the Child Health and Development Studies, 1959???1967

In animal studies, exposure to organochlorine pesticides such as DDT and its metabolite DDE is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes. Human studies have, however, yielded inconsistent results. The authors analyzed data from the Child Health and Development Studies, a longitudinal follow-up study of 20,754 pregnancies in women living in the San Francisco Bay area in the years 1959-1967. Relationships were sought between maternal serum levels of DDT and DDE and preterm birth, small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth, birth weight, an gestational age in 420 males. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used for data on preterm and SGA births, and linear regression analysis for birth weight and gestational age. The median maternal serum levels of DDE and DDT were 43 and 11 μg/L, respectively, figures several times higher than current concentrations in the United States. The adjusted odds ratio for preterm birth was 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-2.23) for DDE and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.50-1.78) for DDT. For SGA birth, the odds ratios were 0.75 (95% CI, 0.44-1.26) for DDE and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.73-1.27) for DDT. No significant relationships or even trends were found between maternal serum concentrations of DDT or DDE and birth weight or length of gestation. None of the reproductive outcomes were significantly associated with the DDE:DTT ratio. These findings do not rule out the possibility that serum pesticide levels may have modest effects on reproductive outcomes, but there is no epidemiologic support for strong causal relationships between DDT or DDE and unfavorable outcomes in male infants. Further studies are appropriate because of the major current role of DDT in preventing malaria.

The silent truth of teenage pregnancies--Birth to Twenty cohort's next generation.

The silent truth of teenage pregnancies--Birth to Twenty cohort's next generation.

Peer Interactions, Language Development and Metacommunication

The role of metacommunication in numerous aspects or dimensions of human development cannot be overestimated. In this paper I discuss theoretical ideas and research evidence concerning play, metacommunication and language development. Concepts and theory, from my perspective, are in need of further elaborations as empirical evidence and theoretical sophistications demand a constant process of knowledge construction concerning the issue. Therefore, I present some recent elaborations regarding concepts related to metacommunication processes, claiming for the existence of, at least, three different sorts of metacommunication. The kind here designated as relational metacommunication is of particular interest when the goal is the study of play, role play, meaning construction, language and child development. The significance of role play for child development is remarkable. Notwithstanding, other kinds of play interactions expressively contribute to it. Possible implications of role playing in the sociogenesis of the dialogical self are considered, even though elaborations of this possibility will require another forum of academic analysis and discussion.

Prenatal determinants of schizophrenia: what we have learned thus far?

The Prenatal Determinants of Schizophrenia (PDS) study was designed to examine early antecedents to schizophrenia. Based in the Child Health and Development Study cohort assembled in 1959-1967, over 12,000 cohort members were followed in the PDS study for psychiatric disorders. Using the extensive data and biological samples prospectively collected beginning during pregnancy, PDS investigators have examined the influence of prenatal exposures on risk of schizophrenia in adulthood. Here we describe a few key findings from the PDS with respect to prenatal infection, nutrition, and toxic exposures.

Simultaneous Confidence Intervals for Two Estimable Functions and Their Ratio Under a Linear Model

This article considers the problem of finding simultaneous confidence intervals for two estimable functions of linear model parameters and their ratio. A pertinent example is the dominance ratio in crossing experiments with plants and animals, which is computed from an estimate of the dominance and additive gene effects. Breeders are usually interested in inferences on the ratio along with the effect estimates. We investigate several solutions to the problem. One proposal uses a plug-in approach, based on the multivariate-t distribution, which is shown by simulation to have good small-sample properties. A conservative method is proposed, which operates under a worst-case scenario. Both methods yield simultaneous coverage probabilities closer to the nominal level than the Scheffé or Bonferroni method. The methods are illustrated using two real examples, one from the Child Health and Development Studies and one from plant breeding. A small simulation study is performed to compare alternative approaches.

Autonomous Spherical Mobile Robot for Child-Development Studies

This paper presents the design process of a spherical robot capable of autonomous motion, and demonstrates how it can become a tool in child-development studies. The robot, named Roball, is capable of intentional self-propelled movements and can generate various interplay situations using motion, messages, sounds, illuminated parts and other sensors. Such capabilities allow Roball to interact with young children in simple and interesting ways, and to provide the potential of contributing to the development of their language, affective, motor, intellectual and social skills. Trials done with 12-24-month-old children demonstrate how Roball can be used to study children's interest in a self-propelled and intentional device. An experimental methodology to conduct such studies is presented: it is based on quantitative and qualitative techniques to evaluate interactions, thus enabling the identification of challenges and opportunities in child-robot interaction studies.

082: Asthma Symptoms During Pregnancy Predict Reduced Risk of Maternal Breast Cancer: Prospective Evidence from the Child Health and Development Studies

082: Asthma Symptoms During Pregnancy Predict Reduced Risk of Maternal Breast Cancer: Prospective Evidence from the Child Health and Development Studies

198: Prospective Study of Testicular Cancer in Relation to Maternal Serum Levels of DDT-Related Compounds: The Child Health and Development Studies

198: Prospective Study of Testicular Cancer in Relation to Maternal Serum Levels of DDT-Related Compounds: The Child Health and Development Studies

053: Prospective Study of Testicular Cancer in Relation to Maternal Smoking and Alcohol Use: The Child Health and Development Studies

053: Prospective Study of Testicular Cancer in Relation to Maternal Smoking and Alcohol Use: The Child Health and Development Studies

UNICEF supported project Buen Inicio (Good Initiatives) on early child growth and development Study tour to Cusco in conjunction with the XXII IVACG meeting

UNICEF supported project Buen Inicio (Good Initiatives) on early child growth and development Study tour to Cusco in conjunction with the XXII IVACG meeting

Academics versus service: Balancing competing missions in laboratory schools offering full‐day programming

Laboratory schools play an important role in furthering the study of child development and education. Budget cutbacks at universities have threatened the existence of many lab schools, and a growing number are expanding to full‐day programming to develop more consistent sources of funding. As lab schools evolve we must consider how they can best sustain their teaching, research, and outreach missions while managing increased service demands. This article explores one lab school's struggle with balancing academic and service missions while moving to full‐day programming and the lessons learned in the process. Implications for other expanding lab school programs are discussed.

Mothers' and Fathers' Psychological Symptoms and Marital Functioning: Examination of Direct and Interactive Links with Child Adjustment

A community sample of 51 mother-father dyads with a school-age child rated marital functioning, parental psychological symptoms, and children's adjustment problems. Parents with more psychological symptoms reported lower marital satisfaction levels. Mothers' and fathers' marital functioning and symptomatology individually related to children's adjustment in the expected directions. In addition, interaction tests revealed that, for mothers but not fathers, the combination of poorer marital functioning and higher levels of psychological symptoms amplified the negative effects on children's adjustment problems. These findings support the hypothesis that parental psychopathology and marital adjustment together affect children's functioning in an interactive way, underscoring the need to consider multiple family influences in studies of child development.

Differential-maternal parenting behavior: estimating within- and between-family effects on children.

This study examined the impact of differential-maternal parenting behavior, evaluated as a family-level experience, on children's emotional-behavioral problems. Data come from 3 child development studies: 2,128 four- to sixteen-year-olds (Ontario Child Health Study), 7,392 four- to eleven-year-olds (National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth), and 1,992 three- to fourteen-year-olds (National Longitudinal Study of Youth). In 2 of 3 studies, there was consistent evidence that differential-maternal parenting behavior had an adverse impact on all siblings as a group, over and above parenting directed at individual siblings. The strength of association was sensitive to the type of maternal parenting behavior, dimension of child maladjustment, and respondent perspective (stronger for hostile/negative parenting, child externalizing problems, and mother assessments of child emotional-behavioral problems).