This study examined the unique protective influence of center-based early care and education experiences on kindergarten outcomes for children entering public school kindergarten. The 3,969 participants were geographically and demographically representative of an entire kindergarten cohort in a large urban school district. Child age, gender, ethnicity, family poverty, low maternal education, an...

BACKGROUND Ethnic diversity in schools increases due to globalization. Thus, the children's social-emotional competence development must be considered in the context of a multi-ethnic classroom. METHODS In this study, the social-emotional competence of 65 Asian-American and Latin-American children was observed at the beginning and the end of their kindergarten year. RESULTS Initially, signi...

Fearful temperament is associated with risk for the development of social anxiety disorder in childhood; however, not all fearful children become anxious. Identifying maladaptive trajectories is thus important for clarifying which fearful children are at risk. In an unselected sample of 111 two-year-olds (55% male, 95% Caucasian), Buss ( 2011 ) identified a pattern of fearful behavior, dysregul...

This study examines the role of a particular kind of linguistic input--talk about the past and future, pretend, and explanations, that is, talk that is decontextualized--in the development of vocabulary, syntax, and narrative skill in typically developing (TD) children and children with pre- or perinatal brain injury (BI). Decontextualized talk has been shown to be particularly effective in pre...

Nearly all school-age children in the United States attend kindergarten, and approximately three-quarters of kindergarten students are in full-day classrooms. While there have been dramatic increases in provision of and participation in full-day kindergarten, there is little evidence on the impact and cost-effectiveness of such programs and policies, particularly as compared to other types of i...

RESEARCH FINDINGS: This study examined whether children's executive functions before kindergarten would predict variance in executive functions after kindergarten. We obtained behavioral (working memory task performance), parental-reported (temperament-based inhibitory control), and psychophysiological (working memory-related changes in heart rate and brain electrical activity) measures of exec...

Email is a convenient tool, however, it is still difficult for elderly people and kindergarten children. If they can learn to use it, their ability to communicate may be remarkably increased. Therefore we developed two kinds of email software ‘Gin-Mail’ for elderly people and ‘Ocha-Mail’ for kindergarten children. They adopt a pen-based interface with a tablet PC. Users write email using Ink fu...

OBJECTIVE Younger people are engaging in gambling, with some showing excessive involvement. Although a consequence of gambling could be anxiety and depression, emotional distress could be a precursor to gambling involvement. This could reflect developmental proneness toward problem behaviour. We assessed whether early emotional distress directly influences later gambling or if it operates throu...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to determine physical activity (PA) and nutrition knowledge and preferences in low socio-economic status kindergarten children. METHODS Following height and weight measurement, 795 low socio-economic status kindergarten children (age 3.8-6.8 y.o) completed a photo-pair knowledge and preferences food and exercise questionnaire. RESULTS No difference...

OBJECTIVE To prospectively examine the effects of a randomized school-based intervention on nutrition and physical activity knowledge and preferences, anthropometric measures, and fitness in low socioeconomic kindergarten children. STUDY DESIGN A total of 376 children completed a school-year combined dietary-behavioral-physical activity intervention and were compared with 349 control subjects...