Late School-aged Children Research Articles

Physical Symptoms, Depression, and Related Factors of Late School-age Children in Seoul, Korea: The Mediating Role of Peer Relationships

PurposeRecent studies have highlighted the importance of peer relationships on the physical and mental health of late school-age children. However, little is known about the causal relationships whereby peer relationships affect health problems. This study aimed to examine the specific associations between physical symptoms and depression and their influential factors, including the quality of peer relationships. Additionally, the causal relationships were examined, focusing on the mediating role of the quality of peer relationships. Design and MethodsA cross-sectional study design was employed with 302 elementary students in grades four and five. Perceived socioeconomic status, the quality of peer relationships, family functioning, physical symptoms, and depression symptoms were measured with self-report questionnaires. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's correlations, and multiple regression. ResultsThe number of reported physical symptoms had a significant negative correlation with peer relationships (r = −0.517, p < 0.001) and family functioning (r = −0.279, p < 0.001). Depression was significantly negatively correlated with the quality of peer relationships (r = −0.775, p < 0.001) and family functioning (r = −0.428, p < 0.001). Peer relationships mediated the link between family functioning and physical symptoms. Peer relationships also mediated the relationship between family functioning and depression. ConclusionsPeer relationships significantly influenced the physical and mental health of late school-age children in Korea. Practice ImplicationsNursing intervention programs for improving peer relationships among children may be necessary to achieve their optimal health status.

The Impact of Child Abuse Experience, Depression, and Aggression on School Adjustment in Late School-aged Children: The Moderated Mediation Effect of Self-Esteem and Ego-Resiliency

The Impact of Child Abuse Experience, Depression, and Aggression on School Adjustment in Late School-aged Children: The Moderated Mediation Effect of Self-Esteem and Ego-Resiliency

The Development and Validation of a School Adjustment Scale for Late School-Aged Children

Objective This study was conducted in order to develop and validate a school adjustment scale for school-aged children. Methods Data were collected from a sample of 4th, 5th and 6th grade students in five elementary schools located in Seoul. A total of 1,055 children were administered a school adjustment scale with 97 items. After a series of analyses, 30 items were retained. The validity of these items was verified by 1,082 children. Data were analyzed by means of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and correlation analysis. Results The results of factor analysis identified four factors Academic Attitude/Rule Observance, Relationships with Peers, Relationships with Teachers, and School Satisfaction. Cronbach’s α ranged from .91 to .93, indicating a high level of internal consistency. Concurrent validity was established using correlations of children’s school adjustment with mothers’ parenting behaviors and children’s social competence, self-esteem, and ego resilience. Cross-validation was also verified for the four subscales. Conclusion Considering its reliability and validity, the scale evaluated in the current study would serve as a useful tool for assessing school adjustment in late childhood. Keywords: school adjustment, late school-aged children, scale development, validation

Neural functional correlates of the impact of socio-emotional stimuli on performances on a flanker task in children aged 9–11 years

Immature cognition is susceptible to interference from competing information, and particularly in affectively charged situations. Several studies have reported activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex and amygdala associated with emotional conflict processing in adults but literature is lacking regarding children. Moreover, studies in children and adolescents still disagree regarding the functional activation of amygdala related to facial stimuli. In the purpose of investigating both the effect of socio-emotional stimuli and its interaction with interference control, we designed a flanker task associated with an event-related fMRI paradigm in 30 healthy children ages 9–11. In addition to happy, angry and neutral faces, we presented scrambled stimuli to examine a potential effect of faces. Regarding both brain and behavior results, no effect of emotional valence was observed. However, both results evidenced an emotional effect of faces compared with scrambled stimuli. This was expressed by faster RTs associated with increased amygdala activity and activation of the ventral ACC, in congruent trials only. When scrambled were inversely compared to faces, increased activity was observed within the lateral prefrontal cortex. Regarding the amygdala, the results suggest that in late school age children, activity in the amygdala seemed to underlie the socio-emotional effect induced by faces but not the emotional conflict. Studying brain regions involved in emotion regulation is important to further understand neurodevelopmental disorders and psychopathologies, particularly in late childhood and adolescence.

어머니의 식습관, 요리습관 및 운동습관과 학령기 후기 아동의 Broca 체질량지수와의 상관관계 연구

The purposes of this study were to analyze eating, cooking, and exercise habits based on their demographic characteristics and to examine the relationship between those habits and their late school-aged childrens Broca index. A total of 393 questionnaires were mailed to the of late school-aged children who registered at four elementary schools in the Seoul area, of which 159 participants (40.0%) completed questionnaires. Statistical data analyses were performed using SPSS/Win 21.0 for descriptive statistics, t-test ANOVA, and Pearsons regression coefficient. There was a statistically significant difference in cooking habit (F=3.920, P=0.022) and exercise habit (F=3.211, P=0.043) according to their educational level. Interestingly, 82.4% of had a Broca index of less than 90% of normal body mass level. A significant positive correlation of Broca index between and their late school-aged children (r=0.345, P<0.001) indicated that children whose had a low body mass level also tended to have a low body mass level. In this study, late school-aged childrens Broca index was not significantly related with mothers eating (r=-0.072, P=0.367) or exercise habits (r=-0.010, P=0.897) but was significantly related with their mothers cooking habits (r=-0.157, P=0.048). Considering there are few studies examining the impacts of mothers cooking habits on their childrens appropriate body mass, the results suggest that developing an effective educational program to cultivate healthy cooking habits to improve school-aged childrens health status is very important. The findings of this study provide important data that could be used when developing health education programs tailored to the multi-dimensional impacts of life habits on their last school-aged childrens developmental health status.

Influence of Perceived Attachment Security and Social Support on Somatic Symptoms in Late School-Aged Children Using a School Health Clinic

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine current status of somatic symptoms of late school-aged children using the school health clinic and to investigate the influence of perceived attachment security and social support on their somatic symptoms. Methods: For this descriptive study, self-report questionnaires were completed by fifth and sixth graders attending ‘A’ elementary school in Gyeonggi-do. Data from 216 students were included. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Results: Most frequent somatic symptoms were headache, fainting, backache, numbness in a body part, and muscle ache in that order. More frequent somatic symptoms were reported by girls, students who recognized their family SES as low, students who used school health clinic often and students who were dissatisfied with school life. Somatic symptom showed negative correlations with attachment stability and perceived social support from family and teachers. In the regression analysis, the variables; low attachment stability, female gender, and low satisfaction with school affected more frequent somatic symptoms. Conclusion: Careful monitoring of late school-aged children expressing frequent somatic symptoms is required. Intervention programs to improve attachment security and satisfaction with school should be developed for school children, especially girls, presenting with somatic symptoms.

부정적 정서에 대한 어머니 반응 지각과 자아 탄력성이 학령기 후기 아동의 생활만족도에 미치는 영향

This study examines the effects of late school-aged children's perception of their mother's responses to negative emotions and their ego resilience on their life satisfaction. Data were collected from 390 fifth- and sixth-graders residing in Kwangju, Korea. With the data, frequency, percentages, and Cronbach's <TEX>${\alpha}$</TEX> were calculated. Pearson's product moment correlation coefficients and hierarchical regression analyses were also considered. The effects of various variables on life satisfaction were analyzed, and according to the results, vitality had the greatest effect on life satisfaction, followed by vitality, optimism, emotional coaching responses, interpersonal relationships, emotion-reducing responses, emotion control, and the material employment status, in that order. The study contributes to the literature by providing additional insights into the mother's desirable responses to children's negative emotions and highlighting the importance of positive ego resilience in children's life satisfaction through the elucidation of effects of late school-aged children's perception of their mother's responses to negative emotions and their ego resilience on their life satisfaction.

Response inhibition difficulties in preterm children aged 9–12 years: Relations with emotion and behavior

Previous studies with children have demonstrated inhibition difficulties associated with prematurity, but the question of potentially catching up with a delay in inhibition processes before adolescence still remains. Moreover, preterm adolescents are more at risk than their term-born peers for presenting behavioral problems such as emotional difficulties and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In addition to examining response inhibition, this study addressed, for the first time, the impact of an emotional context on response inhibition abilities and its relation to behavioral problems in late school-aged preterm children. Fifty-eight preterm children aged 9–12 years were compared with 61 controls on two versions of a stop-signal task, the Delay Frustration Task, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results showed general difficulties in inhibiting a response, rather than a specific impact of emotional context in preterm children. Compared with controls, these children exhibited more and longer button presses in a delay situation, as well as faster go reaction times associated with lower probability of inhibition in the stop-signal tasks. These difficulties reflected impulsivity and were associated with higher hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems. Additionally, intrauterine growth restriction was found to be an additional perinatal risk factor for hyperactivity/inattention symptoms. These findings suggest that remaining inhibition difficulties in the preterm population at preadolescence could reveal increasing behavioral issues.

Health Literacy and Health Behavior in Late School-age Children

Purpose: This study was conducted to analyze the association between health literacy and health behavior and the effect of health literacy on health behavior in late school-age children. Methods: Data were obtained from 333 participants who were 5 th and 6 th -grade students sampled from 8 elementary schools in Busan. Rapid Estimate of Adolescent Literacy in Medicine (REALM-Teen) and Newest Vital Sign (NVS) was used for assessing linguistic and functional health literacy, and the health promotion behavior score was measured for health behavior. Results: The percentage of those with limited linguistic and functional health literacy was high (47.1%, 56.8%). Linguistic health literacy (r=.38, p<.001) and functional health literacy (r=.11, p=.048) had a correlation with health behavior. Health behavior was significantly associated with perceived health status (β=1.94, p<.001), number of times of health education (β=0.18, p<.001), academic achievement (p<.001), home literacy environment (β=0.13, p= .016), perception of changes after health education (p=.011), and linguistic health literacy (β=0.23, p<.001). Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that children with adequate health literacy are more likely to do health behaviors. Therefore, it is important to develop educational strategies to raise children’s health literacy level and consequently to induce them to perform more health behaviors in daily life.

学童期後期の子供に対する父親の養育の行動と意識に影響する要因

学童期後期の子供に対する父親の養育の行動と意識に影響する要因

학령후기 아동의 자기효능감과 건강증진행위와의 관련요인 연구

To study the factors related to self-efficacy and health promotion behavior of the late school-aged children, the questionnaire survey was conducted on 285 students from elementary schools in Daegu metropolitan city from September 3 to september 14, 2012. Correlation analysis showed that there was significantly normal correlation between self-efficacy and health promotion behavior of elementary school students and in correlation according to each sub-area, exercise area showed the highest correlation, followed by stress area, self-realization area, personal relations area, eating habits area, and responsibility for health area. It is considered that the level of health promotion behavior in the areas of low stress management and responsibility for health found in the results of the study will be able to be higher if schools and homes prepare so as to enhance the students’ belief in health promotion behavior with mental stability by developing the programs for the improvement of eating habits in the group with low self-efficacy and especially, recognizing the necessity of stress management.

Development and Verification of the Effect of Health Lifestyle Education Program for Cancer Prevention in Late School-aged Children

Purpose: This study was done to develop and test the effectiveness in late school-aged children of a healthy lifestyle education program for cancer prevention. Methods: Participants were 26 students in the sixth grade of N elementary school in J City (experimental group) and 25 students in the sixth grade of D elementary school with same educational conditions (control group). The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Data collection and execution of the study were carried out from March 10 to May 19, 2011. For the experimental treatment, 7 weekly sessions of the healthy lifestyle education program for cancer prevention were given by the researcher. Posttest was done immediately following the conclusion of the program and 4 weeks later. Frequencies, percentages, χ 2 -test, t-test, repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-test with SPSS WIN 18.0 were used to analyze the data. Results: Perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, activity related effect and family support significantly influenced cancer prevention knowledge and increases in healthy life styles. Conclusion: Results indicate that, as this program for cancer prevention was effective in increasing healthy lifestyle practices in these children, there is a need to further develop, test and implement programs in all schools.

Stress Domains Affecting the Self-esteem in Late School-age Children

Objectives: A report on school-age children represents that they have many stressors in their daily lives including homework, being tested, receiving poor grades, isolation from peer, parental pressure, and economic conditions. This study is to identify stress domains affecting the self-esteem in late school-age children and to provide basic data to develop a self-esteem promoting program for them. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was carried out with 1,329 5th and 6th graders of four elementary schools in Busan for a month long, November, 2010. Self-esteem and Stress were measured with instruments made by the National Youth Policy Institute, 2007. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and enter method multiple regression using PASW 18.0 program. Results: There were no differences between genders on self-esteem, but the 5th graders scored significantly higher on self-esteem and lower on all the stress domains than that of the 6th. Also, all stress domains showed significant and negative correlations with selfesteem. As a multiple regression model in this study, friend stress was the most powerful factor to self-esteem for the late elementary school children and the next factors were study stress, body stress, and parent stress. These variables explained 27.2% of the total variance in self-esteem. Conclusions: Promoting self-esteem may be effective in adjustments because it was affected by stress. In particular, friends, teachers, and parents should consider its significances for supporting school-age children. A specialized program with including friends, teachers, and parents that focuses on the establishment of children's self-esteem should be developed to help stressful children.

Relationship of Knowledge and Practical Will to Practice of Cancer Prevention Lifestyle by Late School-aged Children

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify late school-aged children‘s knowledge, and practical will in the practice of cancer prevention lifestyle, and to examine the relations between these variables and factors that influence practice. Methods: The participants included 525 fifth and sixth grade students from 8 elementary schools in J and S cities. Data were collected in December 2008 using self-report questionnaires developed by the authors and were analyzed using the SPSS program. Results: Mean scores were, for knowledge of cancer prevention lifestyle, out of a possible 1, practical will, out of a possible 5, and practice, also out of 5. There were differences in knowledge (F=4.39, p=.013), practical will (F=18.35, p

The Relation of Anger and Anger Expression to Eating Disorders in Late School-Age Children

Purpose: This cross-sectional study was designed to identify anger-expression types in late school-age children and to investigate the relation of anger and the anger-expression type to their eating disorders. Method: Two hundred fifty four children in elementary school were recruited from 14 to 25, April, 2008. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and Tukey's multiple comparison test. Result: Three anger-expression types in late school-age children were found; Anger-in/out, Anger-control, and Low anger-expression types. Children frequently using the anger-out/in type among the three types and with a higher trait anger reported higher eating disorders. Particularly trait anger and unhealthy anger expression type were linked to eating disorders. Conclusion: This study suggests that a specific anger management program needs to be developed for late school-age children with high trait anger and frequently using the anger out/in expression type and Anger-control type than low anger-expression types. Further research needs to be done with large samples and discussed in terms of the role of gender in eating disorders.

Anger and Health Status in Late School-Age Children

This cross-sectional study was designed to identify anger-expression types in late school-age children and investigate the relation between the identified anger-expression types and their health status. One thousand twenty seven children in elementary school fifth and sixth grades were recruited from November to December, 2004. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, 2-test, ANOVA, Duncan's multiple comparison test, and Wilcoxon rank sum test. Three anger-expression types in late school-age children were found; Anger-out/in, Anger-control, and Low anger-expression types. Children frequently using the anger-out/in type among the three types and with a higher state anger reported higher psychosomatic symptoms and depression. Children from a divorced or separated family reported higher state anger. This study suggests that a specific anger management program needs to be developed for late school-age children with high state anger and frequently using the anger out/in expression type. For understanding the anger level and the anger expression types of Korean school-age children, further research needs to be done with large samples using a randomized sampling method.

Developmental characteristics of topographic EEG in school-age children using an autoregressive model.

Developmental characteristics of the resting EEG were investigated in 47 school-age children using statistical analysis. Total and component EEG power were statistically analyzed between the subject groups from 7 to 14 year-old using our autoregressive pattern discrimination system. In early school-age children, significant topographic differences were seen in theta waves, while in late school-age children, the differences were found in alpha waves in the frontal and occipital regions, and in beta waves in the frontal region.

Self-Esteem Changes in Hospitalized School-Age Children

This study compared changes in self-esteem in three groups of late school-age children (ages 9 through 12 years): those undergoing surgery (26 subjects), those hospitalized for nonsurgical reasons (25 subjects), and those not hospitalized (28 subjects). The children responded to the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory which is designed to measure self-esteem derived from four sources--self, peer/social, school, and home/family--on two occasions with a one-month interval between responses. The hypothesis was tested using a one-factor analysis of variance, with change scores (final score minus initial score) as criterion measures. The hypothesis was supported; total self-esteem scores of surgical children dropped more than scores of nonsurgical and nonhospitalized children. Differences were found for the subscales of peer/social and school derivatives of self-esteem. Peer/social subscale scores of the surgical children dropped more than those of the other groups, and school subscale scores of surgical and nonsurgical children dropped more than the scores of nonhospitalized children.