Parent-child Activities Research Articles

Real-World Usage of Educational Media Does Not Promote Parent–Child Cognitive Stimulation Activities

ObjectiveTo determine whether educational media as actually used by low-income families promote parent–child cognitive stimulation activities. MethodsWe performed secondary analysis of the control group of a longitudinal cohort of mother–infant dyads enrolled postpartum in an urban public hospital. Educational media exposure (via a 24-hour recall diary) and parent–child activities that may promote cognitive stimulation in the home (using StimQ) were assessed at 6, 14, 24, and 36 months. ResultsData from 149 mother–child dyads, 93.3% Latino, were analyzed. Mean (standard deviation) educational media exposure at 6, 14, 24, and 36 months was, respectively, 25 (40), 42 (58), 39 (49), and 39 (50) minutes per day. In multilevel model analyses, prior educational media exposure had small positive relationship with subsequent total StimQ scores (β = 0.11, P = .03) but was nonsignificant (β = 0.08, P = .09) after adjusting for confounders (child: age, gender, birth order, noneducational media exposure, language; mother: age, ethnicity, marital status, country of origin, language, depressive symptoms). Educational media did predict small increases in verbal interactions and toy provision (adjusted models, respectively: β = 0.13, P = .02; β = 0.11; P = .03). In contrast, more consistent relationships were seen for models of the relationship between prior StimQ (total, verbal interactions and teaching; adjusted models, respectively: β = 0.20, P = .002; β = 0.15, P = .006; β = 0.20, P = .001) and predicted subsequent educational media. ConclusionsEducational media as used by this sample of low-income families does not promote cognitive stimulation activities important for early child development or activities such as reading and teaching.

Interactions between MAOA gene polymorphism and maternal parenting in predicting externalizing and internalizing problems and social competence among Chinese children: Testing the genetic vulnerability and differential susceptibility models

AbstractThe present study aimed to test whether monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene polymorphism was a marker of the genetic vulnerability model or the differential susceptibility model by investigating the interaction of MAOA gene polymorphism with maternal parenting on externalizing and internalizing problems and social competence among Chinese children. Participants were 290 children and their parents in China. MAOA genotypes were ascertained by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Mothers reported their parenting stress and engagement in parent–child activities when the child was 6 months old. Children's behavioral problems and social competence were rated by mothers and fathers at 48 months old. The results showed that MAOA genotypes interacted with maternal parenting stress in predicting boys' internalizing problems. Also, MAOA genotypes interacted with maternal engagement in parent–child activities in predicting boys' social competence. The analyses of regions of significance and the proportion of interaction index indicated that boys with the low‐activity genotype were at risk for (a) high internalizing problems under high maternal parenting stress and (b) low social competence if mothers displayed a low level of maternal engagement. No significant interaction effects were found among girls. The results suggested that the MAOA gene might be a marker of the genetic vulnerability model among Chinese boys.Highlights We evaluated whether MAOA gene was a marker of the genetic vulnerability model or the differential susceptibility model by investigating the interaction of MAOA gene polymorphism with maternal parenting on behavioral problems and social competence among 4‐year‐old Chinese children. The results of regions of significance and the proportion of interaction index indicated that boys with the low‐activity genotype were at risk of high internalizing problems or low social competence with high maternal parenting stress or low engagement. No significant interaction effects were found among girls. The results indicated that MAOA gene might be a marker of the genetic vulnerability model rather than the differential susceptibility model.

The Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Elementary Students’ Academic Achievement in China: One-Only Children vs. Children with Siblings

One-only children have long been a research concern and previous studies have consistently found that one-only children posed academic advantages. However, we know very little about why one-only children scored higher in school examinations than their peers with siblings. Parental involvement might be the reason underlies this difference. This study compares the relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic achievement in families with only one child and families with more than one child in China. The results indicate that parents with only one child are more involved in their children’s learning compared with their counterparts with more than one child. The findings also suggest that parent-child communication and parent-child activities can positively predict one-only children’s academic performance, whereas parent-school contact negatively predicts non-only children’s academic performance. These findings highlight the complexity and importance of parental involvement in academic achievement and presents implications for future practice.

A study of relationships between parents’ and teachers’ demographic factors and their judgments about children’s activities and school readiness in primary schools of Tehran

Purpose – The paper describes the relationship between parents’ and teachers’ demographic factors and their judgments about children’s activities and school readiness in primary schools of Tehran. The purpose of this paper is to determine: first, the relationship between the child’s gender and the frequency of parent-child activities; second, the relationship between the parent’s gender, age and educational level and the frequency of parent-child activities; and third, the relationship between the teacher’s gender, educational level and length of service with rate of frequency of the child’s school readiness. Design/methodology/approach – Multi-stage Cluster Sampling was used to select samples, and the research instruments (questionnaires) were distributed among 36 first grade teachers and 756 parents. Findings – The study found that there were significant gender differences in hands-on activities. With regards to the parent’s age and gender, there were significant differences only in hands-on activities, while, with respect to the educational level of fathers and mothers, there were significant differences in both hands-on and community activities among children. Finally, the finding indicated that there was a significant relationship between children’s skills and the teacher’s gender and length of service. Originality/value – Although the research findings are consistent with the reality of Iranian families, more research is needed relating the types of activities in which parents and children engage.

Universal Prevention Exposure as a Moderator of the Community Context: Findings from the PROSPER Project.

This study examined how participation in a universal family skills-building program may interact with community risks and resources to produce youth outcomes. Prior research has noted community-level variability in risk and protective factors, but thus far no study has examined the role that participation on a community-wide intervention may play in moderating the effects of community risks or resources. The study included 14 communities (seven in Iowa, seven in Pennsylvania) that implemented a family focused evidence-based program as part of the PROSPER project. Community level variables included both risk factors (percent of low income families, the availability of alcohol and tobacco, norms regarding adolescent substance use, incidence of drug-related crimes) and community resources (proactive school leadership, availability of youth-serving organizations, and student involvement in youth activities). The proximal youth and family outcomes included youth perceptions of their parents' management skills, parent-child activities, and family cohesion. Results indicated that the Strengthening Families Program:10-14 may have moderated the impact of the community risks and resources on community-level youth outcomes; risk levels meaningfully associated with community-level change in program participants, though these results varied somewhat by outcome. Generally, higher levels of resources also meaningfully associated with more positive change after participating in the family-focused intervention. These results suggest that the effect of some evidence-based programs may be even stronger in some communities than others; more research in this area is needed.

The Development of Reading Skills in Kindergarten Influence of Parental Beliefs About School Readiness, Family Activities, and Children’s Attitudes to School

Children’s early home learning experiences are important influences on children’s adjustment and achievement in the early years of school. This study explores the relationships between parental beliefs about school readiness, family engagement in home learning activities, on children’s attitudes to school as reported by parents, and children’s reading achievement in kindergarten. The analyses draw on data from 3309 children who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergartners. The analyses use structural equation modeling to test the influence of parent and family influences, including sociodemographic variables on children’s attitudes to school and children’s reading achievement in the kindergarten year. Analyses revealed that parents’ readiness beliefs and family activities were significantly related to children’s reading skills. Family activities were related to children’s attitudes about school, but these attitudes were not related to the development of reading skills. The findings suggest that higher engagement in shared parent–child activities may be an important focus in intentional efforts aimed at enhancing early reading achievement. Early childhood educators and other family practitioners can encourage parents to participate in home activities with their children because these activities encourage language interactions which are important to the development of children’s literacy.

Going it alone and adrift: the socioeconomic profile and parental involvement of single-father and single-mother families in post-industrial Taiwan

In spite of the rising prevalence of marital dissolution in Asia over the past decades, little is known about single-parent families in Asia. The present study aims to contribute to the literature by investigating the changing socioeconomic characteristics and parental involvement (measured by parent–child activities and parental awareness of children) of single-father and single-mother families in Taiwan around the millennium. Using a nationally representative sample of 641 single fathers and 730 single mothers from the Taiwan Social Trend Survey collected in 1998, 2002 and 2006, this study found that the apparent socioeconomic advantage of single-father families over single-mother families has weakened. Parent–child activities and parental awareness are lower for single fathers than for single mothers and married fathers. The association between higher parental education and more parent–child activities and parental awareness is more pronounced among single fathers than among single mothers. The presence of co-residential grandparents is associated with lower parent–child activities with pre-teen children among single mothers. The results warrant greater attention to the wellbeing and development of adults and children from low SES single-father families in post-industrial Taiwan.

Parents' Family Time and Work Schedules: The Split‐Shift Schedule in Spain

This study used data on couples from the 2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (N= 1,416) to analyze how work schedules are associated with family, couple, parent–child, and non‐family leisure activities. Spain is clearly an interesting case for the institutionalized split‐shift schedule, a long lunch break rooted in the traditionalsiestathat splits the workday between morning and evening. Results showed strong negative associations between the split shift and both family and parent–child activities. The evening shift was negatively associated with couple and family time, but not with parent–child time. Women spent much more time than men in parent–child activities for all work categories, and they were more responsive to the spouse's work hours. Men were substantially more active than women in non‐family leisure, considering both individuals' and their spouses' work schedules. Altogether, this study has important implications for scientific and public policy debates.

Formal and informal early education of Turkish-origin children in Germany

A lack of adequate German language skills is often discussed as a major reason for the disadvantage of children of immigrants in the German educational system. This article analyses the access to formal and informal early education of Turkish-origin children in Germany and the influence of these early education contexts on the children's German language acquisition. We use the frequency of stimulating parent–child activities as an indicator of informal education and the attendance in language instruction programmes at preschool as an indicator of formal education. The empirical results show that the frequency of parent–child activities in Turkish-origin families depends on parents’ social background and German language skills. Language instruction programmes in preschools are most frequently used by children who most likely need such programmes: children with low levels of German language skills. For the development of German language skills, parent–child activities seem to be most important.

A comparison of parents and teachers’ evaluations about school readiness among first-grade pupils of primary schools in Tehran

AbstractChildren’s school readiness has received much attention from professionals in the field of education. Nevertheless, scholars in Middle East countries have not investigated this topic in a major way. The purpose of the present study was to determine (i) the most common parent–child activities for first-grade pupils in Tehran primary schools as rated by parents; (ii) the skills and abilities of the children as rated by first-grade teachers; and (iii) the relationship between parents and teachers’ ratings of children’s readiness for school. Multi-stage cluster sampling was used to select samples, and the research instruments (questionnaires) were distributed among 36 teachers and 756 parents. The study found that the most common weekly activities with children among Tehran’s families were reading to the child, watching television, helping the child do chores, and playing sports. Teachers’ rating of children’s skills and abilities indicated that the majority of children had previous experiences with o...

Ebb and Flow in Parent-Child Interactions: Shifts from Early through Middle Childhood

SYNOPSISObjective. This study documents the strength of relations between key parent and child behaviors as they occur during typical encounters for both mothers and fathers, and determines whether there were shifts in the strength of relations between parent and child behaviors during early and middle childhood. Design. Multivariate multi-level modeling was used to examine associations between three parent behaviors (respect for autonomy, stimulation of development, hostility) and two child behaviors (agency, negativity) as they occurred in typical parent-child activities at four time points from 54 months through fifth grade for 817 families. Results. For mothers and fathers, respect for autonomy and stimulation were associated with child agency. Paternal hostility was negatively associated with child agency, but for mothers the relation became more positive with age. Parental respect for autonomy and hostility were associated with child negativity for both mothers and fathers; however, for mothers, relations between autonomy support and child negativity became more positive, and relations between hostility and child negativity became less positive. Conclusions. There are clear shifts in the strength of relations between some parenting behaviors and child behaviors from early to middle childhood, indicative of a changing dialectic as children become more independent and different dialectics for mothers and fathers. Parenting behavior links to child competence and adaptive behavior, and the findings may help resolve some uncertainties about relations between parental behavior and children’s developmental trajectories.

The Relation Between Maternal Work Hours and the Cognitive Development of Young School-Aged Children

This paper analyses the relation between maternal work hours and the cognitive development of young school-going children. We find that children’s language and sorting test scores are higher when their mothers have a large part-time job or even a full-time job. We find no evidence that this can be explained by a richer home environment in terms of the number of parent–child activities provided to the child.

Agreement between parent and child report on parental practices regarding dietary, physical activity and sedentary behaviours: the ENERGY cross-sectional survey.

BackgroundParents and their parenting practices play an important role in shaping their children’s environment and energy-balance related behaviours (EBRBs). Measurement of parenting practices can be parent- or child-informed, however not much is known about agreement between parent and child perspectives. This study aimed to assess agreement between parent and child reports on parental practices regarding EBRBs across different countries in Europe and to identify correlates of agreement.MethodsWithin the ENERGY-project, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 10–12 year old children and their parents in eight European countries. Both children and parents filled in a questionnaire on 14 parental practices regarding five different EBRBs (i.e. soft drink, fruit juice and breakfast consumption, sports activity and watching TV) and socio-demographic characteristics. Children’s anthropometric measurements were taken at school. We calculated percentages of agreement between children and their parents and weighted kappa statistics (for ordinal variables) per practice and country and assessed factors associated with agreement using multilevel linear regression.ResultsReports of 6425 children and their parents were available for analysis. Overall mean agreement between parent and child reports was 43% and varied little among countries. The lowest agreement was found for questions assessing joint parent–child activities, such as sports (27%; Kappa (κ) = 0.14) or watching TV (30%;κ = 0.17), and for parental allowance of the child to have soft drinks (32%;κ = 0.24) or fruit juices (32%;κ = 0.19), or to watch TV (27%;κ = 0.17). Having breakfast products available at home or having a TV in the child’s bedroom were the only practices with moderate to good agreement (>60%;κ = 0.06 and 0.77, respectively). In general, agreement was lower for boys, younger children, younger parents, parents with less than 14 years of education, single parents, parents with a higher self-reported body mass index and parents who perceived their child to be underweight.ConclusionsParents and children perceive parental practices regarding dietary, physical activity and sedentary behaviours differently in all parts of Europe, with considerable variation across specific practices and countries. Therefore, future studies should assess both, parents and children’s view on parental practices.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-918) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effects of a school-based drug use prevention programme for middle-school students in Taiwan

This study examined the effects of a school-based drug use prevention programme for middle-school students in Taiwan. The curriculum consisted of 10 lessons and 4 homework assignments involving parent–child activities. A quasi-experimental design was used. The study was conducted in an urban middle-school located in Taipei city and in a middle-school located in a rural area in Taoyuan county. A total of 327 middle-school students in the intervention group and 314 students in the comparison group successfully participated in the baseline (September 2011) and follow-up surveys (November 2011). A mixed-model approach was used to examine the effects. Multivariate analysis results indicated that the school-based drug-prevention programme increased the students' drug-related knowledge, drug-prevention attitudes, enhanced life skills, and improved perceived parental involvement in the prevention of drug use. The results of this study endorse the implementation of school-based drug use prevention programmes that include parent–child activities to enhance youth drug-prevention knowledge, attitudes, and life skills.

Towards intensive parenting? Changes in the composition and determinants of mothers' and fathers' time with children 1992–2006

Contemporary expectations of good parenting hold that focused, intensive parental attention is essential to children's development. Parental input is viewed as a key determinant in children's social, psychological and educational outcomes, with the early years particularly crucial. However, increased rates of maternal employment mean that more parents are juggling work and family commitments and have less non-work time available to devote to children. Yet studies find that parental childcare time has increased over recent decades. In this paper, we explore the detail of this trend using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey (TUS), 1992 and 2006. To investigate whether discourses on intensive parenting are reflected in behaviour, we examine a greater range of parent-child activities than has been undertaken to date, looking at trends in active childcare time (disaggregated into talk-based, physical and accompanying care activities); time in childcare as a secondary activity; time spent in the company of children in leisure activities; and time spent in the company of children in total. We also investigate whether the influence of factors known to predict parental time with children (gender, education, employment status and the age of children) have changed over time. We contextualize our analyses within social and economic trends in Australia and find a compositional change in parental time, with more active childcare occurring within less overall time, which suggests more intensive, child-centred parenting. Fathers' parent-child time, particularly in physical care, increased more than mothers' (from a much lower base), and tertiary education no longer predicts significantly higher childcare time.

An Incremental Approach to Modeling Flexible Workflows Using Activity Decomposition and Gradual Refinement

For existing workflow models, it is still difficult to take into account both the hierarchical relations among activities and their execution orders at the same time, as well as the dynamic uncertainties of workflow processes. Aiming at these problems, an approach to modeling flexible workflow using activity decomposition and incremental refinement is presented. First, the activities as well as their decomposition relationship and the decomposition rules are analyzed to establish an activity decomposition model, where flexible activities, with verifying constraints, are used to package uncertainties. Then temporal relations are introduced into the model to ensure the proper execution orders of activities, which are tightly integrated with the hierarchical relationship as well as different granular activities to make the model perform well. The execution mechanism of the model, such as the delivering of events and states constraints of parent-child activities, is discussed in detail, and a common algorithm for activity execution is also presented. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to the PBL learning system, and the results indicate the effectiveness of the proposal.

Comprehension of Technology in Parent-Child Activities Using Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain

Science museums often hold various science education activities in exhibition halls to enhance visitors' cognition and comprehension of science and technology. However, the experience and knowledge accumulated during the participation in technological experiential and learning activities merits exploration. This study conducts a quantitative survey and qualitatively analyzes the data based on the taxonomy of educational objectives that are outlined in the revised version of Bloom's taxonomy handbook. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of life creativity contests held by museums for elementary school children and their parents on the participants' conceptual cognition of water conservation technologies. A survey is designed to evaluate the change in the participants' conceptual cognition of the technologies, and includes questionnaires on water consumption habits in daily lives, understanding of the water resources in the Taiwan region, and uses of and opinions on water-saving devices. A method on which the assessment of the conceptual knowledge of the participants was based was a content analysis of the interviews. The findings of this study suggested: (a) the creativity contest provided diverse opportunities to improve the participants' cognitive concepts of water conservation; (b) this activity also has positively influenced the learning of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of water conservation technologies.

The Relation between Maternal Work Hours and Cognitive Outcomes of Young School-Aged Children

This paper is the first that analyzes the relation between maternal work hours and the cognitive outcomes of young school-going children. When children attend school, the potential time working mothers miss out with their children, is smaller than when children do not yet attend school. At the same time, working might benefit children through, for example, greater family income. Our study is highly relevant for public policy as in most countries maternal employment rates rise when children enter school.We find no negative relation between maternal working hours and child outcomes as is often found for pre-school aged children. Instead, we find that children's sorting test score is higher when their mothers work part-time (girls) or full-time (boys). Furthermore, we find that planned parent-child activities are positively related to children's language test scores. Nevertheless, we do not find that a richer home environment in terms of the number of parent-child activities provided to the child explain the relation between maternal work hours and children's test scores.

The Interface between Fundamental Studies of the Family and Practical Parent-Child Activities

The Interface between Fundamental Studies of the Family and Practical Parent-Child Activities

Interaction Between the Parenting Alliance and Parent–Child Activities in a Clinic-Referred Sample of 2 to 18-year-olds

Several decades of research have demonstrated a link between marital, parenting, and child domains. The present study examined the nature of these links by testing the moderating effect of the parent–child relationship on the association between the parenting alliance and internalizing and externalizing problems in 324 dual-parent families of 2-to-18-year-old clinic-referred youth. Findings indicated that positive parent–child activities directly related to children’s internalizing and externalizing problems, and modified the nature of the association between the parenting alliance and internalizing problems in families of 6-to-10-year-olds. Interestingly, in families where parents engaged in fewer positive activities with their children, a strong parenting alliance actually related to greater child internalizing problems. Findings support the importance of understanding the interaction between the marital and child domains in order to effectively intervene with families of children experiencing behavior problems.