Healthy Development Of Young Children Research Articles

The Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Early Childhood Teachers' Occupational Well-being: A Moderated Mediation Model

Enhancing the occupational well-being of early childhood teachers is of vital importance for the stability of the teaching workforce and the improvement of educational quality, as well as the healthy development of young children. This study surveyed 327 early childhood teachers using the Principal Transformational Leadership Scale, the Early Childhood Teacher Occupational Well-being Scale, the Psychological Empowerment Scale, and the Perceived Social Support Scale. The results are as follows: (1) Transformational leadership has a positive influence on the occupational well-being of early childhood teachers, and psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and occupational well-being. (2) Perceived social support among early childhood teachers moderates the relationship between psychological empowerment and occupational well-being. Specifically, when teachers have a lower level of perceived social support, the predictive role of psychological empowerment on occupational well-being is stronger. Conversely, when teachers have a higher level of perceived social support, the predictive role of psychological empowerment on occupational well-being is not significant.

Research on Infant Health Diagnosis and Intelligence Development Based on Machine Learning and Health Information Statistics.

Intelligent health diagnosis for young children aims at maintaining and promoting the healthy development of young children, aiming to make young children have a healthy state and provide a better future for their physical and mental health development. The biological basis of intelligence is the structure and function of human brain and the key to improve the intelligence level of infants is to improve the quality of brain development, especially the early development of brain. Based on machine learning and health information statistics, this paper studies the development of infant health diagnosis and intelligence, physical and mental health. Pre-process the sample data, and use the filtering method based on machine learning and health information statistics for feature screening. Compared with traditional statistical methods, machine learning and health information statistical methods can better obtain the hidden information in the big data of children's physical and mental health development, and have better learning ability and generalization ability. The machine learning theory is used to analyze and mine the infant's health diagnosis and intelligence development, establish a health state model, and intuitively show people the health status of their infant's physical and mental health development by means of data. Moreover, the accumulation of these big data is very important in the field of medical and health research driven by big data.

Early relational health - A promising approach for equitable systems change in pediatrics: A commentary.

Pediatric primary care plays a critical role in supporting the healthy development of young children. Wisdom and research suggest that every developmental domain is shaped by the quality of close relationships, particularly the caregiver-child relationship. Therefore, pediatric primary care has a unique opportunity to support and nurture early relationships using the Early Relational Health (ERH) framework and its applications Early Relational Health Screen, and Early Relational Health Conversations. ERH and its applications recognize years of innovation focused on the promotion of the wellbeing of caregiver-child relationships, and children's long-term development. Central to enhancing and elevating pediatric practice is intentional effort in using diversity-informed, anti-racist, equitable systems of care frameworks. This Commentary offers a call to action for pediatric primary care to create more equitable and inclusive practice via ERH. The call to action includes deepening self and institutional awareness; allocating resources for systems change, including infusing greater equity into departmental structures; and, building authentic relationships with patients, families, and communities. This will result in intentional systems change centered on equitable practice.

Caregiver regulation: A modifiable target promoting resilience to early adverse experiences.

Experiences of adversity in early life are associated with increased risk for negative outcomes; yet, the impact of early adversity on any given child is difficult to predict given the considerable heterogeneity in functioning found even among children with similar exposures. Thus, although early adversity is associated with increased risk for negative outcomes on average, many children are resilient. While researchers have highlighted individual differences in children's internal characteristics that may relate to risk and resilience, external characteristics of the environment that differ between children are mutable factors that are also important for understanding heterogeneity in children's outcomes. We propose that caregiver regulation of children's emotions is a key modifiable feature of the environment that promotes resilience to and recovery from early adversity. Specifically, given the critical role of caregiver regulation of emotions in early life for children's ability to understand and recover from adverse experiences, we highlight three levels of intervention focused on fostering healthy development in young children by targeting the availability, consistency, and quality of caregiver regulation, respectively. We provide a classification system designed to guide decision making about the level of intervention needed to support a given child's needs in terms of ultimately supporting the goal of receiving effective caregiver regulation. This framework may be useful for guiding the priority of treatments, as well as making clear the needed menu of options to support children following adversity, in addressing specific concerns related to ensuring effective caregiver regulation to promote resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Association Between Accelerometer and Parental Reported Weekend and Weekday Sleeping Patterns and Adiposity Among Preschool-Aged Children

Sleep is vital for healthy development of young children; however, it is not understood how the quality and quantity vary between the weekends and weekdays (WE–WD). Research focused on older children has demonstrated that there is significant WE–WD variability and that this is associated with adiposity. It is unclear how this is experienced among preschoolers. This study explored: (a) the accuracy of WE–WD sleep as reported in parental logbooks compared with accelerometers; (b) the difference between WE and WD total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and timing, as assessed by accelerometers; and (c) the association between the variability of these metrics and adiposity. Eighty-seven preschoolers (M = 46; 4.48 ± 0.89 years) wore an accelerometer on their right hip for 7 days. Parents were given logbooks to track “lights out” times (sleep onset) and out of bed time (sleep offset). Compared with accelerometers, parental logbook reports indicated earlier sleep onset and later sleep offset times on both WEs and WDs. Accelerometer-derived total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and onset/offset were not significantly different on the WEs and WDs; however, a sex effect was observed, with males going to bed and waking up earlier than females. Correlation analyses revealed that variability of sleep onset times throughout the week was positively correlated with percentage of fat mass in children. Results suggest that variability of sleep onset may be associated with increased adiposity in preschool children. Additional research with larger and more socioeconomically and racially diverse samples is needed to confirm these findings.

Addressing maternal mental health to increase participation in home visiting

Maternal depression poses a significant threat to the healthy development of young children and is associated with increased child behavior problems and poorer cognitive development. Home visiting programs provide critical support for children and families during early childhood, but further research is needed to examine how programs address maternal depression and whether referral to outside mental health services impacts parental participation in home visiting. This study aimed to examine rates of depression among mothers in the national Parent as Teachers (PAT) home-visiting program, whether various high needs characteristics were associated with elevated depressive symptoms, and whether depressive symptomology and initiation of outside mental health treatment were associated with attendance and retention in services, particularly after considering important family risk factors. Data from all participating affiliates was collected nationally. Measures included family demographics, high needs characteristics, rates of depression screening, initiation of maternal mental health services, and PAT program attendance and retention. Several high needs characteristics were strongly associated with maternal depressive symptoms, including intimate partner violence exposure, parental substance abuse, and parental disability. Results also showed that mothers who screened in either the probable Major Depressive Disorder or subclinical depression range on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were enrolled for fewer months in PAT. However, depressed mothers who accessed outside mental health services stayed enrolled for more months than mothers who did not access services. Results demonstrate that mothers with higher depressive symptoms, including those in the subclinical range, have a harder time participating in home-visiting services, even though they may need the support the most. However, when PAT home-visitors address maternal mental health and mothers initiate treatment, mothers appear to be better equipped to participate in home visiting.

School Readiness.

School readiness includes the readiness of the individual child, the school's readiness for children, and the ability of the family and community to support optimal early child development. It is the responsibility of schools to meet the needs of all children at all levels of readiness. Children's readiness for kindergarten should become an outcome measure for a coordinated system of community-based programs and supports for the healthy development of young children. Our rapidly expanding insights into early brain and child development have revealed that modifiable factors in a child's early experience can greatly affect that child's health and learning trajectories. Many children in the United States enter kindergarten with limitations in their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development that might have been significantly diminished or eliminated through early identification and attention to child and family needs. A strong correlation between social-emotional development and school and life success, combined with alarming rates of preschool expulsion, point toward the urgency of leveraging opportunities to support social-emotional development and address behavioral concerns early. Pediatric primary care providers have access to the youngest children and their families. Pediatricians can promote and use community supports, such as home visiting programs, quality early care and education programs, family support programs and resources, early intervention services, children's museums, and libraries, which are important for addressing school readiness and are too often underused by populations who can benefit most from them. When these are not available, pediatricians can support the development of such resources. The American Academy of Pediatrics affords pediatricians many opportunities to improve the physical, social-emotional, and educational health of young children, in conjunction with other advocacy groups. This technical report provides an updated version of the previous iteration from the American Academy of Pediatrics published in 2008.

Reproductive justice and support for young fathers.

ABSTRACTThe current article addresses the interests and contributions of fathers to child development and well‐being within a reproductive and social justice framework. We present an overview of research on the role of fathers in the lives of children from the prenatal period through early childhood, with an emphasis on fathers as partners and caregivers in promoting the reproductive health and safety of women and the healthy development of young children. We explore especially the challenges of young, at‐risk fathers as well as system and practice opportunities that support their contributions as partners and parents. Our goal of the article is to extend the discourse on reproductive and social justice to include the shared responsibility of all parents and facilitate circumstances whereby children experience the support needed to become nurturing caregivers for the next generation.

Housing Subsidies and Early Childhood Development: A Comprehensive Review of Policies and Demonstration Projects

ABSTRACTIn this article, we ask how housing subsidies might influence young children. We examine two national housing policies – public housing assistance and the Section 8 vouchers program – and two demonstration projects that aimed to improve the administration of providing housing subsidies – HOPE (Homeownership Opportunities for People Everywhere) VI and Moving to Opportunity. This article is a critical examination of these policies and demonstration projects in relation to the following housing dimensions that promote the healthy development of young children: income supplements residential stability, physical environment, access to services and amenities, housing choice, neighborhood safety, and social capital. We compared advantages and limitations of each of these national housing policies and demonstration projects and examined ways in which they might influence children in these housing dimensions. The article concludes with implications and future research directions for U.S. housing policy by discussing its most recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) initiative, Rental Assistance Demonstration, in addressing limitations of housing policies and demonstration projects we examined.

Investigating important interactions between water and food security for child health in Burkina Faso

Failures in either water systems or food systems, or a combination of system failures, could provide the underlying explanation for continued high levels of malnutrition in many regions. We focus on child health and offer the first spatially explicit analysis of the interaction between water source and food insecurity on children’s health in Burkina Faso, an African nation that continues to struggle with poor children’s health. We combine data from the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey, a small USAID water quality survey collected from community wells, and remotely sensed imagery. Results suggest that, in a few cases, reliable and clean water sources are positively correlated to children’s linear growth and weight gain, although in many regions, the interaction with community-level food production is critical to understanding health outcomes. The results also suggest that maternal health and nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding are foundational to the healthy development of young children. In all, the findings provide evidence of the importance of multi-sectoral interventions targeted at improving children’s health.

The great fire of London

Physical activity is intrinsically linked to healthy development in young children and what better way to encourage them to get moving then to link exercise to familiar stories and nursery rhymes.

The Notting Hill Carnival

Physical activity is intrinsically linked to healthy development in young children and what better way to encourage them to get moving then to link exercise to familiar stories and nursery rhymes.

Play Materials Availability and Utilisation for Development of Gross Motor Skills by Pre- Primary School Children

Various scholars have emphasised the importance of play in the healthy development of young children. It is knownthat children develop physical fitness through engagement in play activities. It is also known that when childrenengage in play activities alongside other children, they develop muscular and movement skills and acquire somecognitive learning. This study was carried out to find out the level of availability of play materials, the extent of useof those found and the relationship between availability and utilisation of play materials. A purposive surveyresearch design was adopted in data collection from 20 Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres in one senatorialdistrict of a state in Nigeria. The instruments used for data collection were an inventory sheet as well asquestionnaires for Heads of centres, ECE teachers and children. The data analysis revealed that eleven different playmaterials were found in different quantities in the various establishments. Their utilisations also varied. The datarevealed that three play materials were highly available in only three institutions. Five play items were moderatelyavailable at 9 centres; while play materials availability was low at eight other centres. The daily utilisation of theitems was high for four play materials; moderate for another five and low for three play materials. A high positivecorrelation (r=0.762, p<0.006, R2 =.581) was obtained for availability and utilisation of play materials. 58 percent ofthe relationship was accounted for by the experiment. It was recommended that more training and workshops bemounted for ECE teachers and proprietors/head-teachers on early childhood developmental needs and requirements;and that local production of essential early childhood play materials be started in Nigeria. The provision of more playmaterials was recommended, since the children will make more use of those provided.

I like to ride my bicycle

Physical activity is intrinsically linked to healthy development in young children and what better way to encourage them to get moving then to link exercise to familiar stories and nursery rhymes.

Turn that frown around

Physical activity is intrinsically linked to healthy development in young children and what better way to encourage them to get moving then to link exercise to familiar stories and nursery rhymes.

Mary had a little lamb

Physical activity is intrinsically linked to healthy development in young children and what better way to encourage them to get moving then to link exercise to familiar stories and nursery rhymes.

Gravity of the situation

Physical activity is intrinsically linked to healthy development in young children and what better way to encourage them to get moving then to link exercise to familiar stories and nursery Rhymes.

Maternal Acculturation and Weight Status Among Young Children of Asian and Hispanic Immigrant Mothers

Using a nationally representative sample from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) and defining maternal acculturation as three patterns of language use, this study examined the influence of maternal acculturation on child weight status at kindergarten entry, separately for children of Asian and Hispanic immigrant mothers. Overall, this study found beneficial associations between maternal acculturation and children’s weight status in both Asian and Hispanic groups. Children of bilingual and English-dominant Asian mothers had lower body mass index (BMI) z-scores than those of home-language Asian mothers. Maternal acculturation was also associated with a reduced risk of being obese among children of Asian mothers. In addition, children of bilingual Hispanic mothers also had lower BMI z-scores than those of home-language Hispanic mothers. The findings of this study suggest that programs to promote the healthy development of young children in immigrant families may need to be tailored to different ethnic groups and levels of maternal acculturation.

What do Parents Know About the Mental Health Needs and Problems of Children?

Mental health is how people think, feel and act as they encounter lifes ups and downs. Parents and child care providers need to be aware of the role of mental health in the overall healthy development of young children. It is the task of caregivers to observe young children to be sure that they are maintaining mental health by mastering age-appropriate social and personal skills, such as understanding and managing their feelings, interacting with others and learning to assert themselves in the world. The present study was conducted to examine and compare the knowledge level of parents on mental health problems of children in Gulbarga district, Karnataka and Wayanadu district in Kerala. The data was collected from 250 respondents who are members of different neighbourhood groups in Gulbarga district and Wayanadu district. Stratified random sampling method used for collecting the data. The findings revealed that there is a poor knowledge regarding the mental health problems of children among the parents. This indicates the need for creating knowledge among the parents with the help of specific intervention programme. This study is an initiative to evolve appropriate suggestions for better strategies to promote mental health awareness among mothers.

Early Childhood Nature Play: A Needs Assessment of Minnesota Licensed Childcare Providers

Due to a growing body of evidence suggesting nature play experiences support the healthy development of young children, a needs assessment of licensed childcare providers in Minnesota was conducted. The purpose was to inform efforts toward ensuring all young children in Minnesota have the opportunities to gain the benefits nature play offers. Based on the results of a cross-sectional survey of 81 licensed childcare providers, results indicate there is a need to increase the amount of time preschool-aged children are playing outdoors, and specifically playing outdoors in natural areas. Results also suggest a need to increase access (or perceived access) to natural areas, and in particular among those providers who report serving primarily children of a lower socio-economic status (SES). Results suggest respondents recognize the benefits of outdoor play, but there may be a need to raise awareness of the benefits of outdoor play in nature. Key obstacles to be addressed in future efforts to encourage nature play for preschool-aged children include lack of access (perceived access) to natural areas, lack of appropriate clothing, safety/liability concerns, and lack of time. Efforts to reduce obstacles may be of particular importance for providers serving children of lower SES. These results may be used to guide future discussions and actions regarding strategies, policies, and programs for incorporating nature play into childcare programs for preschool-aged children.