Children's Networks Research Articles

The role of formal schooling in the development of children's reading and arithmetic white matter networks.

Children's white matter development is driven by experience, yet it remains poorly understood how it is shaped by attending formal education. A small number of studies compared children before and after the start of formal schooling to understand this, yet they do not allow to separate maturational effects from schooling-related effects. A clever way to (quasi-)experimentally address this issue is the longitudinal school cut-off design, which compares children who are similar in age but differ in schooling (because they are born right before or after the cut-off date for school entry). We used for the first time such a longitudinal school cut-off design to experimentally investigate the effect of schooling on children's white matter networks. We compared "young" first graders (schooling group, n=34; Mage=68 months; 20 girls) and "old" preschoolers (non-schooling group, n=33; Mage=66 months; 18 girls) that were similar in age but differed in the amount of formal instruction they received. Our study revealed that changes in fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity in five a priori selected white matter tracts during the transition from preschool to primary school were predominantly driven by age-related maturation. We did not find specific schooling effects on white matter, despite their strong presence for early reading and early arithmetic skills. The present study is the first to disentangle the effects of age-related maturation and schooling on white matter within a longitudinal cohort of 5-year-old preschoolers. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: White matter tracts that have been associated with reading and arithmetic may be susceptible to experience-dependent neuroplasticity when children learn to read and calculate. This longitudinal study used the school cut-off design to isolate schooling-induced from coinciding maturational influences on children's white matter development. White matter changes during the transition from preschool to primary school are predominantly driven by age-related maturation and not by schooling effects. Strong effects of schooling on behavior were shown for early reading and early arithmetic, but not for verbal ability and spatial ability.

Conceptualizing the social networks of children of parents with serious mental illness: a thematic analysis.

Social networks, defined as the set of active and significant ties surrounding an individual, influence the wellbeing of vulnerable children. The best evidenced mechanism through which this occurs is where networks act as a vehicle to access social support. Little is known about the content and function of social networks of children of parents with severe and enduring mental illness (COPMI). COPMI are a frequently under-identified vulnerable child population at risk of negative outcomes. This qualitative study investigates the structure, role and function of these children's networks. Researchers conducted 17 semi-structured egocentric social network interviews. Interviews incorporated personal network mapping as a data collection method. COPMI were recruited through third sector organizations and interviewed across three sites in England. Data was analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. Five network features were identified (i) parents as primary providers of support (i) limited networks and diminished connections over time (iii) substitutable ties (formal and informal) (iv) peer connections as source of both support and strain (v) coping strategies: self-censorship, avoidance and animals. Children of parents with severe and enduring mental illness networks are structurally typical of vulnerable children in that they are limited, rely on parents as primary ties but allow for some substitution of support ties. COPMI-specific features included peer relationships at times as source of strain and network level coping strategies used to manage wellbeing, including pets. This latter reflects previous findings in vulnerable adult populations so far unevidenced in children. Little evidence as to the mechanistic effect at work within networks was collected. However, COPMI were clearly shown to be engaged in active management and strategising in network navigation approaches, indicating the need to engage with children in this capacity, rather than approaching them as passive recipients of support. As such, effective network level interventions for this group are likely to prioritize access to beneficial substitute ties when support is limited. Additionally, interventions that promote network navigation skills and help foster productive coping strategies can capitalize on the child's active management role within their network.

Psychosocial and biobehavioral processes underlying the association between prenatal risk factors and child self-regulation.

Over the past few decades, there has been accumulating evidence that prenatal exposure to risk is negatively related to child self-regulation. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. The present study used a multimethod approach to simultaneously examine the mediating role of the developmental trajectories of observed parenting quality (support, stimulation, and structure) and children's functional brain networks (small-worldness) from infancy into the preschool period in a sample of 233 children and their biological mothers. The results revealed a potential sleeper effect: Prenatal exposure to risk was negatively related to child self-regulation during the preschool period, but not during infancy. Parenting quality remained relatively stable over time, whereas small-worldness showed an increase during infancy, followed by a decrease into the preschool age period. These developmental changes did not mediate the relation between prenatal risk and child self-regulation. Prenatal exposure to risk was related to lower levels of maternal support during infancy, but did not affect the development of parenting quality over time. Prenatal risk was also not related to the growth rate of small-worldness in young children. However, the developmental changes in small-worldness predicted individual differences in child self-regulation. These findings suggest that children generally have the potential to benefit from positive postnatal parenting environments, regardless of the levels of prenatal risk. A potential target for intervention efforts based on the current findings might be related to postnatal experiences that impact the development of functional brain networks, which in turn could affect the development of child self-regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Social Networks in Children From Preschool to Adolescence, Based on Behavioral Observation and Peer Nomination Methods [Conference Presentation Abstract

Social Networks in Children From Preschool to Adolescence, Based on Behavioral Observation and Peer Nomination Methods [Conference Presentation Abstract

Research on the Obstacles and Countermeasures to the Protection of Children's Rights and Interests in the Network Environment

This survey is based on the background of the era of rapid development of the Internet and the tendency of the younger age of Internet users, as well as the problem of children encountering more and more risks in the Internet environment. At present, the safety of children's network use in China has received more and more attention, but the specific aspects of prevention of network safety problems still need to be improved. This paper analyses the common problems that children in the online environment are mainly exposed to the risks of cyberbullying, identity information leakage, and the influence of violent and bloody information. The analysis of this paper concludes that children's cybersecurity problems are characterized by hiddenness, children's lack of self-awareness, and insufficient social attention. Based on this, the paper makes the following recommendations, the protection of children's Internet use should be carried out in a combination of online and offline ways, and the government, companies, schools, families, and individuals should make a joint effort.

The Impact of Gadgets on the Social and Emotional Development of Early Childhood

This study was conducted to describe the impact of gadgets on early childhood socio-emotional development. The method used in this research is literature methodology. With a qualitative approach. From the results of this study, it is found that gadgets can have positive and negative impacts on the socio-emotional development of early childhood. The positive impacts include: increasing children's imagination and creativity, increasing children's intelligence and cognitive abilities, helping children learn and understand the surrounding environment, increasing children's self-confidence, expanding children's friendship networks. While the negative impacts include: increasing the risk of gadget addiction, reducing children's social interaction with peers, disrupting children's emotional and moral development, increasing the risk of health problems, such as obesity, sleep disorders, and visual impairment.

Designing for caregiving networks: a case study of primary caregivers of children with medical complexity.

The study aimed to characterize the experiences of primary caregivers of children with medical complexity (CMC) in engaging with other members of the child's caregiving network, thereby informing the design of health information technology (IT) for the caregiving network. Caregiving networks include friends, family, community members, and other trusted individuals who provide resources, information, health, or childcare. We performed a secondary analysis of two qualitative studies. Primary studies conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 50) with family caregivers of CMC. Interviews were held in the Midwest (n = 30) and the mid-Atlantic region (n = 20). Interviews were transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis. Emergent themes were mapped to implications for the design of future health IT. Thematic analysis identified 8 themes characterizing a wide range of primary caregivers' experiences in constructing, managing, and ensuring high-quality care delivery across the caregiving network. Findings evidence a critical need to create flexible and customizable tools designed to support hiring/training processes, coordinating daily care across the caregiving network, communicating changing needs and care updates across the caregiving network, and creating contingency plans for instances where caregivers are unavailable to provide care to the CMC. Informaticists should additionally design accessible platforms that allow primary caregivers to connect with and learn from other caregivers while minimizing exposure to sensitive or emotional content as indicated by the user. This article contributes to the design of health IT for CMC caregiving networks by uncovering previously underrecognized needs and experiences of CMC primary caregivers and drawing direct connections to design implications.

A qualitative exploration of the lived experience of mothers caring for a child with narcolepsy.

Parents/carers of a child with narcolepsy are often required to become experts in narcolepsy and navigate health care, education, and welfare systems on behalf of their child. Managing pediatric narcolepsy is complex and challenges the child and the entire family, yet few studies have explored carers' experiences. Twenty mothers (50% had a child with narcolepsy < 18 years at the time of interview; 85% narcolepsy with cataplexy) participated in a 1:1 semistructured interview. Participation from fathers was sought; however, none were recruited. A multidisciplinary team of researchers/clinicians analyzed interview transcripts using thematic analysis. Mothers perceived that most people misunderstood the whole-person impact of narcolepsy, including their child's peers, teachers, and support networks. Narcolepsy had a substantial psychological impact on both the child and the whole family yet was largely unaddressed by health care professionals, leaving mothers unsure of where to turn for help. Most parents described negative experiences with their child's specialist, often perceiving the specialists to lack knowledge specific to narcolepsy. Information about illness trajectory and support services was limited or inaccessible, fueling many mothers' hopes and fears for their child's future. Mothers also frequently described feelings of abandonment by the health care system. Our results contextualize the whole-person impact of narcolepsy from the perspective of parents and carers, highlighting the need for proactive inclusion of parents/carers in developing health care policy and practice. It calls for developing tools and resources to capture "well-managed" narcolepsy from the perspective of parents/carers for use in research and clinical practice. Schokman A, Cheung J, Klinner C, etal. A qualitative exploration of the lived experience of mothers caring for a child with narcolepsy. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024;20(5):699-707.

Hunter-Gatherer children's close-proximity networks: Similarities and differences with cooperative and communal breeding systems.

Among vertebrates, allomothering (non-maternal care) is classified as cooperative breeding (help from sexually mature non-breeders, usually close relatives) or communal breeding (shared care between multiple breeders who are not necessarily related). Humans have been described with both labels, most frequently as cooperative breeders. However, few studies have quantified the relative contributions of allomothers according to whether they are (a) sexually mature and reproductively active and (b) related or unrelated. We constructed close-proximity networks of Agta and BaYaka hunter-gatherers. We used portable remote-sensing devices to quantify the proportion of time children under the age of 4 spent in close proximity to different categories of potential allomother. Both related and unrelated, and reproductively active and inactive, campmates had substantial involvement in children's close-proximity networks. Unrelated campmates, siblings and subadults were the most involved in both populations, whereas the involvement of fathers and grandmothers was the most variable between the two populations. Finally, the involvement of sexually mature, reproductively inactive adults was low. Where possible, we compared our findings with studies of other hunter-gatherer societies, and observed numerous consistent trends. Based on our results we discuss why hunter-gatherer allomothering cannot be fully characterised as cooperative or communal breeding.

Retrato das mães doadoras e variáveis associadas à doação de leite materno em um Banco de Leite Humano

ABSTRACT Objective To describe and analyze the donor mothers’ profile and variables associated with breast milk donation at Human Milk Bank in the municipality of Guarapuava, Paraná, Brazil. Methods This was a cross-sectional study obtained from information contained in the donor registration form between the period July 2013 (implementation of the service) to December 2019. The collected data were tabulated and descriptive analysis of variables and Chi-square and Fischer’s exact association tests were performed. Results Of 1,491 records analyzed, this research identified that 70.73% of donors were between 20 to 34 years old; 67.69% had prenatal care at public health network and 61.37% have had cesarean delivery. Most mothers (61.44%) remained as donor for 29 days and 53.83% of them donated up to 500 ml of milk. In addition, statistically significant association was observed between milk volume donated and donation time for the following variables: prenatal place care, gestational age, child's birth weight, child age, and smoking. Maternal age was associated with a higher volume of donated milk. Conclusion The study's findings reinforce the approaching importance the possibility of human milk donation during prenatal care, with emphasis on private health service, and throughout the women's and children's health care network, as well as on the community.

A roadmap for starting, growing and sustaining a comprehensive pediatric surgery service in a low resource area

The Tanzania-Oxford Children's Surgery Partnership is a longstanding capacity building and research collaboration. Over a 21-year period, this non-hierarchical partnership has worked to develop from service delivery to children surgical system strengthening in Tanzania. This has directly impacted the children's surgery and workforce by increasing the number of pediatric surgeons in the country and upskilling nurses, anesthetists, and pediatricians. Clinical skills acquisition has been complemented by the development of leadership, mentorship, and research acumen. The partnership has also delivered critical upgrading of infrastructure which has significantly increased operative volume and allowed for the provision of minimally invasive children's surgery. A children's research network has been established, with a focus on research equity and local data ownership adhering to local ethics, leading to prolific academic output. At the core of this partnership has been the recognition that achieving sustainable change requires local leadership, long-term commitment, and ‘bottom-up’ change. We described the historical events and steps taken by our partners to achieve the universal provision of children's surgery in Tanzania.

Does racial diversity affect White children's racial bias and reasoning? Depends on where they live and how their social world is structured.

By 4 years of age, White children from across the United States begin to exhibit an awareness of racial inequalities, along with in-group preferences for other White children. The present study explored how the size and racial diversity of White children's social network (e.g., friends, family, and classmates) and neighborhood (zip code) are related to variation in their explanations for racial disparities and anti-Black bias among a sample of 395 White children (ages = 4-11 years old; Mage = 6.6 years) from 263 unique zip codes across the United States. White children in neighborhoods with low diversity were more likely to endorse an extrinsic explanation for racial inequality as their network diversity increased, whereas network diversity did not relate to children's choices for those who lived in neighborhoods with high diversity. These findings held even after controlling for parents' beliefs about diversity, which were themselves positively correlated with children's network and neighborhood diversity. An exploratory analysis revealed that for White children in small networks only, as the number of children of color in their network increased, they were more likely to choose to play with a Black child. Results demonstrate how the diversity of children's social networks and neighborhoods relates to children's developing racial beliefs in contextually dependent ways. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Systematic characterization of antibody-drug conjugate targets in central nervous system tumors.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) enhance the specificity of cytotoxic drugs by directing them to cells expressing target antigens. Multiple ADCs are FDA-approved for solid and hematologic malignancies, including those expressing HER2, TROP2, and NECTIN4. Recently, an ADC targeting HER2 (Trastuzumab-Deruxtecan) increased survival and reduced growth of brain metastases in treatment-refractory metastatic breast cancer, even in tumors with low HER2 expression. Thus, low-level expression of ADC targets may be sufficient for treatment responsiveness. However, ADC target expression is poorly characterized in many central nervous system (CNS) tumors. We analyzed publicly available RNA-sequencing and proteomic data from the children's brain tumor network (N = 188 tumors) and gene-expression-omnibus RNA-expression datasets (N = 356) to evaluate expression of 14 potential ADC targets that are FDA-approved or under investigation in solid cancers. We also used immunohistochemistry to measure the levels of HER2, HER3, NECTIN4, TROP2, CLDN6, CLDN18.2, and CD276/B7-H3 protein in glioblastoma, oligodendroglioma, meningioma, ependymoma, pilocytic astrocytoma, medulloblastoma, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT), adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP), papillary craniopharyngioma (PCP), and primary CNS lymphoma (N = 575). Pan-CNS analysis showed subtype-specific expression of ADC target proteins. Most tumors expressed HER3, B7-H3, and NECTIN4. Ependymomas strongly expressed HER2, while meningiomas showed weak-moderate HER2 expression. ACP and PCP strongly expressed B7-H3, with TROP2 expression in whorled ACP epithelium. AT/RT strongly expressed CLDN6. Glioblastoma showed little subtype-specific marker expression, suggesting a need for further target development. CNS tumors exhibit subtype-specific expression of ADC targets including several FDA-approved for other indications. Clinical trials of ADCs in CNS tumors may therefore be warranted.

“Small-scale aviation”: children’s technical working in the USSR in the 1920s

In the 1920s, the development of youth’s technical creativity became one of the important tasks undertaken by the Soviet authorities. This period is featured by numerous experiments diligently conducted by the Soviet government having its aim to set up a new world. Innovations affected, among the other things, the sphere of education and leisure. The reasons resulted in establishing of the children's technical stations network are discussed in this paper. Their activity is analysed having in mind the necessity to introduce young technicians to the heroic forms of socialist creating, one of which included the aviation. Enormous interest in the air force caused an influx of children and adolescents into aircraft modelling clubs. The authors consider the goals, objectives, organisational structure of children's technical stations and circles, evaluate their role in the development of Soviet aviation. The study led authors to the conclusion that children's technical stations and aircraft modelling clubs laid foundations to the technical literacy in general and acted as a “social lift” due to the interrelation of aircraft modelling and gliding sports with the professional pilots’ training system for the Air Force, and the USSR Civil Air Fleet.

Characteristics of the Attentional Network in Children with Sleep-Disordered Breathing.

To explore the characteristics of the attentional network and related factors in children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). A total 228 children (200 children aged 6-10 years with snoring or mouth breathing, admitted to our hospital from May 2020 to July 2022, and 28 healthy children recruited from the community as the control group) were enrolled. All participants underwent polysomnography (PSG) and completed the ADHD rating scale and child version of the Attention Network Test. According to their SDB history and obstructive apnea hypopnea index (OAHI), the participants were divided into control (n = 28), primary snoring (PS; n = 67) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA; n = 133) groups. The OSA and PS groups were younger than controls (P < 0.05). The proportion of boys was higher in the OSA than control group (P < 0.05). Body mass index was higher in the OSA than control and PS groups (P < 0.01). Attention deficit and hyperactive impulsivity scores were independently associated with the OAHI (P < 0.001). The efficiency of the alerting network was higher in the OSA than in controls (P = 0.020), but was not correlated with OAHI after adjusting for age, sex and SDB history duration (P > 0.05). Children with OSA have impaired attention, characterized by excessive alerting network activation. However, alerting network efficiency did not change linearly with disease severity. More research is needed to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying attention deficits in pediatric OSA.

Portrayal of Gifted Stereotypes in Disney Channel Media

The harmony hypothesis and the disharmony hypothesis are two opposing theories about gifted youth and their future potential for success. Evidence of these hypotheses can appear in media content and potentially impact impressionable viewers. This research paper aims to investigate the prevalence of these hypotheses in the programming of Disney Channel, a popular children's television network. Through content analysis of a sample of Disney Channel shows, the study explores the degree to which the programming promotes harmony and positive social values versus disharmony and negative behavior. The results of the analysis show that Disney Channel overall have a higher prevalence of the harmony hypothesis, demonstrating that giftedness is displayed in a positive attitude. However, the differences between the prevalences are slim, suggesting that the frequency of positive gifted portrayals in the media are not significantly different compared to negative ones. Due to this negligible difference, future research should look into the implications of these portrayals in children's media.

Marriage, gender, and premiums from cadre parents

We investigate the impacts of the cadre status of biological parents on individuals' socioeconomic outcomes over time in China. We find that cadres' children experience an earnings/income premium during multiple periods, and that the magnitude of such premium increases in the early stage of children's career but decreases in the later stage of life. Moreover, sons, rather than daughters, of cadres can continuously enjoy premiums on socioeconomic outcomes after marriage. Our results suggest that cadres can improve their children's economic status by expanding their children's network and persistently enhancing children's education and cadre status, and that the superior economic status of cadres' children may partially stems from their hard work and high work efficiency. Our results infer that the gender difference in cadre parent premiums cannot be fully explained by the motherhood penalty and the gender difference in family membership could be an important source of gender inequality.

Disrupted Small-World Networks in Children with Drug-Naïve Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A DTI-Based Network Analysis

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, while the potential neurological mechanisms are poorly understood. To explore the alterations in the white matter (WM) structural connectome in children with drug-naïve ADHD, forty-nine ADHD and 51 age- and gender-matched typically developing (TD) children aged 6–14 years were enrolled. WM structural connectivity based on deterministic diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was constructed in 90 cortical and subcortical regions, and topological parameters of the resulting graphs were calculated. Network metrics were compared between two groups. The concentration index and the total cancellation test scores of digit cancellation test were used to evaluate clinical symptom severity in ADHD. Then, a partial correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationship between significant topologic metrics and clinical symptom severity. Compared to TD group, ADHD showed an increase in the characteristic path length (Lp), normalized clustering coefficient (γ), small worldness (σ), and a decrease in the global efficiency (Eglob) (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, ADHD showed reduced nodal centralities mainly in the regions of default mode network (DMN), central executive network (CEN), basal ganglia, and bilateral thalamus (all p < 0.05). After performing Benjamini-Hochberg’s procedure, only the left orbital part of superior frontal gyrus and the left caudate were statistically significant (p < 0.05, FDR-corrected). In addition, the concentration index of ADHD was negatively correlated with the nodal betweenness of the left orbital part of the middle frontal gyrus (r = −0.302, p = 0.042). Our findings revealed an ADHD-related shift of WM network topology toward “regularization” pattern, characterized by decreased global network integration, which is also reflected by changed nodal centralities involving DMN, CEN, basal ganglia, and bilateral thalamus. ADHD could be understood by examining the dysfunction of large-scale spatially distributed neural networks.

Social connectedness at the playground before and after COVID-19 school closure

Social connectedness at school is crucial to children's development, yet very little is known about the way it has been affected by school closures during COVID-19 pandemic. We compared pre-post lockdown levels of social connectedness at a school playground in forty-three primary school-aged children, using wearable sensors, observations, peer nominations and self-reports. Upon school reopening, findings from sensors and peer nominations indicated increases in children's interaction time, network diversity and network centrality. Group observations indicated a decrease in no-play social interactions and an increase in children's involvement in social play. Explorative analyses did not reveal relations between changes in peer connectedness and pre-lockdown levels of peer connectedness or social contact during the lockdown period. Findings pointed at the role of recess in contributing to children's social well-being and the importance of attending to their social needs upon reopening.

23. The Effects of Methylphenidate on Spontaneous Fluctuations in Reward and Cognitive Control Networks in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder -Randomized Controlled Studies in Two Independent Cohorts

23. The Effects of Methylphenidate on Spontaneous Fluctuations in Reward and Cognitive Control Networks in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder -Randomized Controlled Studies in Two Independent Cohorts