The aim of the study is conducting methodologically sound, cross-sequential analyses of the creativity development of children attending different school systems. Culture-free tests of creativity (ideational fluency and flexibility) and intelligence were administered in 5 cohorts (two kindergarten and first three elementary school years), which were retested in three consecutive years. Samples ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of peer monitoring on generosity in boys and girls aged 6-12 years. A total of 120 elementary school students played a one-shot dictator game (DG) with and without peer monitoring by classmates. Children decided how to divide 10 chocolates between themselves and a classmate either in a condition in which their allocations were visible to their...

Efforts are needed to improve U.S. children's poor diet quality. Our purpose was to examine whether a policy that restricts the availability of snack foods in the schools is associated with greater fruit and vegetable consumption in a nationally representative sample of 5th grade children. Children in schools with restricted snack availability had significantly higher frequency of fruit and veg...

Parental knowledge of their students' backpack weight and contents was assessed by identifying 188 students who carried backpacks weighing at least 10% of their body weights through a survey of 745 students in three elementary schools. Most parents (96%) had never checked their child's backpack weight; 34% had never checked the backpack contents.

This study examined the social situations that are problematic for peer-rejected students in the first year of elementary school. For this purpose, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the Taxonomy of Problematic Social Situations for Children (TOPS, Dodge et al., 1985) in 169 rejected pupils, identified from a sample of 1457 first-grade students (ages 5-7) enrolled in...

OBJECTIVES We examined racial and ethnic disparities in the total potential burden of asthma in low-income, racially/ethnically heterogeneous Chicago schools. METHODS We used the Brief Pediatric Asthma Screen Plus (BPAS+) and the Spanish BPAS+, validated, caregiver-completed respiratory questionnaires, to identify asthma and possible asthma among students in 14 racially/ethnically diverse pub...

Adequate sleep is essential for child learning. However, school systems may inadvertently be promoting sleep deprivation through early school start times. The current study examines the potential implications of early school start times for standardized test scores in public elementary schools in Kentucky. Associations between early school start time and poorer school performance were observed ...

The association between physical fitness and blood pressure was studied in 2061 children selected from all fourth graders in 44 elementary schools in the New York City area. Their blood pressure and physical fitness were measured on two consecutive examinations 1 year apart. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were highest in children with poor physical fitness. The change in physical fitness...

Effects of the life skills programme 'Eigenständig werden' (Becoming independent) on life skills and on identified antecedents of adolescent health risk behaviour, childhood internalizing and externalizing behaviour were tested in an elementary school setting. A quasi-experimental controlled trial with five repeated measures was conducted. Participants were 919 students from 50 elementary schoo...

OBJECTIVE To maximize active parent consent form return rates for third-grade minority, urban students enrolled in predominantly low-income elementary schools in Chicago, Ill. METHODS Research staff used a class incentive and class visits to retrieve consent forms from students. RESULTS Of the 811 third-grade students, 98% returned a form and 79% (n = 627) of those students' parents provide...