Racial/ethnic differences on the body image perceptions and weight concerns of fourth grade girls

The purpose of this study was to determine the racial and ethnic differences on body image perceptions and weight concerns of fourth grade girls. A purposive sample of 182 fourth grade girls were eligible to participate, 166 were included in the data analysis. The Children's Eating Attitude Test (ChEAT) and a Dieting and Demographic Questionnaire (DDQ) were used to determine eating attitudes of fourth grade girls. A pictoral instrument that was modified from the original was used to assess body image. Anthropometric data was assessed and body mass index (BMI) values were used to classify subjects into percentiles. Results revealed that 56% of all fourth grade girls studied wanted to be thinner and 53% had tried to lose weight. Significantly more non-Hispanic white (NHW) girls reported wanting to be thinner than non-Hispanic black (NHB) and H girls (65.5% vs.32% and 47%, respectively, P=0.005) No significant racial/ethnic differences were revealed for the ChEAT scores. However, 19% of all subjects studied fell into the category indicative of anorexia nervosa. H girls who were less than the 85" %tile for BMI chose significantly smaller figures as their perceived body image (3.5±0.7) than both NHB and NHW girls (4.0±0.6 and 3.9±0.5, respectively, P<0.01). These findings demonstrated that weight concerns were prevalent among girls ages 9- 11 years. NHW and H girls may have more concerns about their body size and shape than their NHB counterparts. Implementing intervention programs at an early age may prevent eating disorders in adolescence and adulthood.

An Analysis of Haitian Parents' Perceptions of Their Children With Disabilities

Parental involvement is an integral part of the educational system in the U.S. Yet, parents from non-mainstream racial/ethnic backgrounds have not fully grasped the nature of parental involvement expectations in the educational process and how these expectations may impact student achievement. The purpose of this study was to identify Haitian parents’ perceptions of their children with disabilities and the education these children were receiving. Several authors have conducted studies on parents of children with disabilities to better gain an understanding of the level of their involvement with their children’s education, their perceptions of the children, and their views on the school system (Harry, 1992a, 1992b). In this study, Haitian parents of children with disabilities were interviewed using an interview protocol. Through these interviews, this study explored 10 Haitian parents’ perceptions of their child with a disability, the education the child was receiving, their interaction with the school system, and how the disability had affected their relationship with their child and their involvement with the school. Findings of the present study revealed that these Haitian parents seldom disagreed with school personnel and did not seem to fully grasp the different methods available to address their concerns as parents of children with disabilities nor the role they were expected to play in the process. The majority did not have basic literacy skills in Creole or English. The parents in this study were overwhelmed by school written communication. Additionally, this study discovered that parents’ perceptions were guided by two core concepts: coping mechanisms and locus of control. Parents with an internal locus of control, who tended to be more educated, focused inward to find solutions to problems encountered. Those with an external locus of control relied on outside influences to resolve their problems. Parental involvement was strongly influenced by their values, beliefs, customs, and conceptual knowledge about disability; all closely aligned with culture and acculturation. Overall, these parents’ perceptions greatly influenced their thoughts and behaviors when they realized that their children with disabilities might fall short of their immigrant dreams of success they held for these children.

Métodos de avaliação nutricional para a suplementação oral com zinco em crianças pré-púberes não deficientes em zinco

Background: Zinc is an essential nutrient that is required for numerous metabolic functions, and zinc deficiency results in growth retardation, cellmediated immune dysfunction, and cognitive impairment. Objective: This study evaluated nutritional assessment methods for zinc supplementation in prepubertal nonzinc- deficient children. Design: We performed a randomised, controlled, triple-blind study. The children were divided into a control group (10% sorbitol, n = 31) and an experimental group (10 mg Zn/day, n = 31) for 3 months. Anthropometric and dietary assessments as well as bioelectrical measurements were performed in all children. Results: Our study showed (1) an increased body mass index for age and an increased phase angle in the experimental group; (2) a positive correlation between nutritional assessment parameters in both groups; (3) increased soft tissue, and mainly fat-free mass, in the body composition of the experimental group, as determined using bioelectrical impedance vector analysis; (4) increased consumption of all nutrients, including zinc, in the experimental group; and (5) an increased serum zinc concentration in both groups (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Given that a reference for body composition analysis does not exist for intervention studies, longitudinal studies are needed to investigate vector migration during zinc supplementation. These results reinforce the importance of employing multiple techniques to assess the nutritional status of populations.

Métodos de avaliação nutricional para a suplementação oral com zinco em crianças pré-púberes não deficientes em zinco

Background: Zinc is an essential nutrient that is required for numerous metabolic functions, and zinc deficiency results in growth retardation, cellmediated immune dysfunction, and cognitive impairment. Objective: This study evaluated nutritional assessment methods for zinc supplementation in prepubertal nonzinc- deficient children. Design: We performed a randomised, controlled, triple-blind study. The children were divided into a control group (10% sorbitol, n = 31) and an experimental group (10 mg Zn/day, n = 31) for 3 months. Anthropometric and dietary assessments as well as bioelectrical measurements were performed in all children. Results: Our study showed (1) an increased body mass index for age and an increased phase angle in the experimental group; (2) a positive correlation between nutritional assessment parameters in both groups; (3) increased soft tissue, and mainly fat-free mass, in the body composition of the experimental group, as determined using bioelectrical impedance vector analysis; (4) increased consumption of all nutrients, including zinc, in the experimental group; and (5) an increased serum zinc concentration in both groups (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Given that a reference for body composition analysis does not exist for intervention studies, longitudinal studies are needed to investigate vector migration during zinc supplementation. These results reinforce the importance of employing multiple techniques to assess the nutritional status of populations.

The effects of audio cueing and an instructions, feedback and praise package on the distribution of teacher praise to students of differing on-task levels

In an audio cueing system, a teacher is presented with randomly spaced auditory signals via tape recorder or intercom. The teacher is instructed to praise a child who is on-task each time the cue is presented. In this study, a baseline was obtained on the teacher's praise rate and the children's on-task behaviour in a Grade 5 class of 37 students. Children were then divided into high, medium and low on-task groups. Followinq baseline, the teacher's praise rate and the children's on-task behaviour were observed under the following successively implemented conditions: (l) Audio Cueing 1: Audio cueing at a rate of 30 cues per hour was introduced into the classroom and remained in effect during subsequent conditions. A group of consistently low on-task children were delineated. (2) Audio Cueing Plus 'focus praise package': Instructions to direct two-thirds o£ the praise to children identified by the experimenter (consistently low on-task children), feedback and experimenter praise for meeting or surpassing the criterion distribution of praise ('focus praise package') were introduced. (3) Audio Cueing 2: The 'focus praise package' was removed. (4) Audio Cueing Plus 'increase praise package': Instructions to increase the rate of praise, feedback and experimenter praise for improved praise rates ('increase praise package') were introduced. The primary aims of the study were to determine the distribution of praise among hi~h, medium and low on-task children when audio cueinq was first introduced and to investigate the effect of the 'focus praise package' on the distribution of teacher praise. The teacher distributed her praise evenly among the hiqh, medium and low on-task groups during audio cueing 1. The effect of the 'focus praise package' was to increase the percentage of praise received by the consistently low on-task children. Other findings tended to suggest that audio cueing increased the teacher's praise rate. However, the teacher's praise rate unexpectedly decreased to a level considerably below the cued rate during audio cueing 2. The 'increase praise package' appeared to increase the teacher's praise rate above the audio cueing 2 level. The effect of an increased praise rate and two distributions of praise on on-task behaviour were considered. Significant increases in on-task behaviour were found in audio cueing 1 for the low on-task group, in the audio cueing plus 'focus praise package' condition for the entire class and the consistently low on-task group and in audio cueing 2 for the medium on-task group. Except for the high on-task children who did not change, the effects of the experimental manipulations on on-task behaviour were e quivocal. However, there were some indications that directing 67% of the praise to the consistently low on-task children was more effective for increasing this group's on-task behaviour than distributing praise equally among on-task groups.

Intergenerational effects of parental substance-related convictions and adult drug treatment court participation on children's school performance.

This study examined the intergenerational effects of parental conviction of a substance-related charge on children's academic performance and, conditional on a conviction, whether completion of an adult drug treatment court (DTC) program was associated with improved school performance. State administrative data from North Carolina courts, birth records, and school records were linked for 2005-2012. Math and reading end-of-grade test scores and absenteeism were examined for 5 groups of children, those with parents who: were not convicted on any criminal charge, were convicted on a substance-related charge and not referred by a court to a DTC, were referred to a DTC but did not enroll, enrolled in a DTC but did not complete, and completed a DTC program. Accounting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, the school performance of children whose parents were convicted of a substance-related offense was worse than that of children whose parents were not convicted on any charge. These differences were statistically significant but substantially reduced after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics; for example, mother's educational attainment. We found no evidence that parent participation in an adult DTC program led to improved school performance of their children. While the children of convicted parents fared worse on average, much--but not all--of this difference was attributed to socioeconomic factors, with the result that parental conviction remained a risk factor for poorer school performance. Even though adult DTCs have been shown to have other benefits, we could detect no intergenerational benefit in improved school performance of their children.

Nutritional status of lactating mothers and their children 6-23 months of age in pre- and post-harvest seasons in two agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia

The objective of this study was to assess seasonal variation in nutritional status and feeding practices among lactating mothers and their children 6-23 months of age in two different agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia (lowland zone and midland zone). Food availability and access are strongly affected by seasonality in Ethiopia. However, there are few published data on the effects of seasonal food fluctuations on nutritional status and dietary diversity patterns of mothers and children in rural Ethiopia. A longitudinal study was conducted among 216 mothers in two agro-ecological zones of rural Ethiopia during pre and post-harvest seasons. Data were collected on many parameters including anthropometry, blood levels of haemoglobin and ferritin and zinc, urinary iodine levels, questionnaire data regarding demographic and household parameters and health issues, and infant and young child feeding practices, 24 h food recall to determine dietary diversity scores, and household use of iodized salt. Chi-square and multivariable regression models were used to identify independent predictors of nutritional status. A wide variety of results were generated including the following highlights. It was found that 95.4% of children were breastfed, of whom 59.7% were initially breastfed within one hour of birth, 22.2% received pre-lacteal feeds, and 50.9% of children received complementary feedings by 6 months of age. Iron deficiency was found in 44.4% of children and 19.8% of mothers. Low Zinc status was found in 72.2% of children and 67.3% of mothers. Of the study subjects, 52.5% of the children and 19.1% of the mothers were anaemic, and 29.6% of children and 10.5% of mothers had iron deficiency anaemia. Among the mothers with low serum iron status, 81.2% and 56.2% of their children had low serum zinc and iron, respectively. Similarly, among the low serum zinc status mothers, 75.2% and 45.3% of their children had low serum in zinc and iron, respectively. There was a strong correlation between the micronutrient status of the mothers and the children for ferritin, zinc and haemoglobin (P <0.001). There was also statistically significant difference between agro-ecological zones for micronutrient deficiencies among the mothers (p<0.001) but not for their children. The majority (97.6%) of mothers in the lowland zone were deficient in at least one micronutrient biomarker (zinc or ferritin or haemoglobin). Deficiencies in one, two, or all three biomarkers of micronutrient status were observed in 48.1%, 16.7% and 9.9% of mothers and 35.8%, 29.0%, and 23.5%, of children, respectively. Additionally, about 42.6% of mothers had low levels of urinary iodine and 35.2% of lactating mothers had goitre. Total goitre prevalence rates and urinary iodine levels of lactating mothers were not significantly different across agro-ecological zones. Adequately iodised salt was available in 36.6% of households. The prevalence of anaemia increased from post-harvest (21.8%) to pre-harvest seasons (40.9%) among lactating mothers. Increases were from 8.6% to 34.4% in midland and from 34.2% to 46.3% in lowland agro-ecological zones. Fifteen percent of mothers were anaemic during both seasons. Predictors of anaemia were high parity of mother and low dietary diversity. The proportion of stunted and underweight children increased from 39.8% and 27% in post-harvest season to 46.0% and 31.8% in pre-harvest season, respectively. However, wasting in children decreased from 11.6% to 8.5%. Major variations in stunting and underweight were noted in midland compared to lowland agroecological zones. Anthropometric measurements in mothers indicated high levels of undernutrition. The prevalence of undernutrition in mothers (BMI <18.5kg/m2) increased from 41.7 to 54.7% between post- and pre-harvest seasons. The seasonal effect was generally higher in the midland community for all forms of malnutrition. Parity, number of children under five years and regional variation were predictors of low BMI among lactating mothers. There were differences in minimum meal frequency, minimum acceptable diet and dietary diversity in children in pre-harvest and post-harvest seasons and these parameters were poor in both seasons. Dietary diversity among mothers was higher in lowland zone but was poor in both zones across the seasons. In conclusion, malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are very prevalent among lactating mothers and their children 6-23 months old in the study areas. There are significant seasonal variations in malnutrition and dietary diversity, in addition to significant differences between lowland and midland agro-ecological zones. These findings suggest a need to design effective preventive public health nutrition programs to address both the mothers’ and children’s needs particularly in the preharvest season.

Investigating relative clauses in children with specific language impairment

Background: It is well documented that children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) experience significant grammatical deficits. While much of the focus in the past has been on their morphosyntactic difficulties, less is known about their acquisition of complex syntactic structures such as relative clauses. The role of memory in language performance has also become increasingly prominent in the literature. Aims: This study aims to investigate the control of an important complex syntactic structure, the relative clause, by school age children with SLI in Ireland, using a newly devised sentence recall task. It also aims to explore the role of verbal and short-termworking memory in the performance of children with SLI on the sentence recall task, using a standardized battery of tests based on Baddeley’s model of working memory. Methods and Procedures: Thirty two children with SLI, thirty two age matched typically developing children (AM-TD) between the ages of 6 and 7,11 years and twenty younger typically developing (YTD) children between 4,7 and 5 years, completed the task. The sentence recall (SR) task included 52 complex sentences and 17 fillers. It included relative clauses that are used in natural discourse and that reflect a developmental hierarchy. The relative clauses were also controlled for length and varied in syntactic complexity, representing the full range of syntactic roles. There were seven different relative clause types attached to either the predicate nominal of a copular clause (Pn), or to the direct object of a transitive clause (Do). Responses were recorded, transcribed and entered into a database for analysis. TheWorkingMemory Test Battery for children (WMTB-C—Pickering & Gathercole, 2001) was administered in order to explore the role of short-term memory and working memory on the children’s performance on the SR task. Outcomes and Results: The children with SLI showed significantly greater difficulty than the AM-TD group and the YTD group. With the exception of the genitive subject clauses, the children with SLI scored significantly higher on all sentences containing a Pn main clause than those containing a transitive main clause. Analysis of error types revealed the frequent production of a different type of relative clause than that presented in the task—with a strong word order preference in the NVN direction indicated for the children with SLI. The SR performance for the children with SLI was most highly correlated with expressive language skills and digit recall. Conclusions and Implications: Children with SLI have significantly greater difficulty with relative clauses than YTD children who are on average two years younger—relative clauses are a delay within a delay. Unlike the YTD children they show a tendency to simplify relative clauses in the noun verb noun (NVN) direction. They show a developmental hierarchy in their production of relative clause constructions and are highly influenced by the frequency distribution of the relative clauses in the ambient language.

Legends as music: new composition in the traditional Irish idiom

Engaging Ireland’s rich heritages of traditional music, story-telling, song, dance, and language, this doctoral composition project is a unique undertaking in the amalgamation of native art forms and the narrative realisation of Irish legends. The centrepiece of the project comprises of two collections of compositions inspired by the legends Oidhe Chloinne Lir (the tragic fate of the children of Lir) and Loinges Mac nUislenn (the exile of the sons of Uisliu). An interdisciplinary approach of traditional research and creative practice was employed in the development of this project, which informed and supported the formulation of personal and distinctive recensions of the chosen narratives, and the composition of over three hundred new works. Grounded in Irish traditional music, the compositional voice speaks in the familiar styles and structures of the idiom, and also resonates in contemporary and singular spaces. The Irish harping tradition is continued and extended in this research through the composition and recording of new music which is particularly suited to the instrument. Outputs include contextual, critical, and creative writings, recordings, video materials, musical scores, and storyboard and performance design artwork.

Children's Postures While Playing at Computer Workstations

There has been a significant increase in the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and the costs associated with these are predicted to increase as the popularity of computer use increases at home, school and work. Risk factors have been identified in the adult population but little is known about the risk factors for children and youth. Research has demonstrated that they are not immune to this risk and that they are self reporting the same pain as adults. The purpose of the study was to examine children’s postures while working at computer workstations under two conditions. One was at an ergonomically adjusted children’s workstation while the second was at an average adult workstation. A Polhemus Fastrak™ system was used to record the children’s postures and joint and segment angles were quantified. Results of the study showed that children reported more discomfort and effort at the adult workstation. Segment and joint angles showed significant differences through the upper limb at the adult workstation. Of significance was the strategy of shoulder abduction and flexion that the children used in order to place their hand on the mouse. Ulnar deviation was also greater at the adult workstation as was neck extension. All of these factors have been identified in the literature as increasing the risk for injury. A comparison of the children’s posture while playing at the children’s workstation verses the adult workstation, showed that the postural angles assumed by the children at an adult workstation exceeded the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) recommendations. Further investigation is needed to increase our knowledge of MSD in children as their potential for long term damage has yet to be determined.

Rethinking Care Through Social Reproduction: Articulating Circuits of Migration

Care has come to dominate much feminist research on globalized migrations and the transfer of labor from the South to the North, while the older concept of reproduction had been pushed into the background but is now becoming the subject of debates on the commodification of care in the household and changes in welfare state policies. This article argues that we could achieve a better understanding of the different modalities and trajectories of care in the reproduction of individuals, families, and communities, both of migrant and nonmigrant populations by articulating the diverse circuits of migration, in particular that of labor and the family. In doing this, I go back to the earlier North American writing on racialized minorities and migrants and stratified social reproduction. I also explore insights from current Asian studies of gendered circuits of migration connecting labor and marriage migrations as well as the notion of global householding that highlights the gender politics of social reproduction operating within and beyond households in institutional and welfare architectures. In contrast to Asia, there has relatively been little exploration in European studies of the articulation of labor and family migrations through the lens of social reproduction. However, connecting the different types of migration enables us to achieve a more complex understanding of care trajectories and their contribution to social reproduction.

"Lancea", Lusitanian Word, and the "Lancienses" Ethnogenesis

Analysis of the word lancea, of Hispanic origin after Varro, and of place names, people´s names and personal names derived from it. It confirms that the spear was the most important weapon in the Bronze Age, belonging to the iuventus and used as heroic and divine symbol. This analysis confirms also the personality of the Lusitanians, a people related to the Celts but with more archaic archaeological, linguistic and cultural characteristics originated in the tradition of the Atlantic Bronze in the II millennium BC. It is also relevant to better know the organisation of Broze and Iron Age societies and the origin of Indo-Europeans peoples in Western Europe and of pre-Roman peoples of Iberia.

Perception of Filtered Speech by Children with Developmental Dyslexia and Children with Specific Language Impairments

Here we use two filtered speech tasks to investigate children’s processing of slow (<4 Hz) versus faster (∼33 Hz) temporal modulations in speech. We compare groups of children with either developmental dyslexia (Experiment 1) or speech and language impairments (SLIs, Experiment 2) to groups of typically-developing (TD) children age-matched to each disorder group. Ten nursery rhymes were filtered so that their modulation frequencies were either low-pass filtered (<4 Hz) or band-pass filtered (22 – 40 Hz). Recognition of the filtered nursery rhymes was tested in a picture recognition multiple choice paradigm. Children with dyslexia aged 10 years showed equivalent recognition overall to TD controls for both the low-pass and band-pass filtered stimuli, but showed significantly impaired acoustic learning during the experiment from low-pass filtered targets. Children with oral SLIs aged 9 years showed significantly poorer recognition of band pass filtered targets compared to their TD controls, and showed comparable acoustic learning effects to TD children during the experiment. The SLI samples were also divided into children with and without phonological difficulties. The children with both SLI and phonological difficulties were impaired in recognizing both kinds of filtered speech. These data are suggestive of impaired temporal sampling of the speech signal at different modulation rates by children with different kinds of developmental language disorder. Both SLI and dyslexic samples showed impaired discrimination of amplitude rise times. Implications of these findings for a temporal sampling framework for understanding developmental language disorders are discussed.

Episodic Future Thinking in 4-Year-Olds, Poster Symposium: The who, what, where and when of episodic foresight development

The ability to project oneself into the future to pre-experience an event is referred to as episodic future thinking (Atance & O’Neill, 2001). Only a relatively small number of studies have attempted to measure this ability in pre-school aged children (Atance & Meltzoff, 2005; Busby & Suddendorf, 2005ab, 2010; Russell, Alexis, & Clayton, 2010).Perhaps the most successful method is that used by Russell et al (2010). In this task, 3- to 5-year-olds played a game of blow football on one end of a table. After this children were asked to select tools that would enable them to play the same game tomorrow from the opposite, unreachable, side of the table. Results indicated that only 5-year-olds were capable of selecting the right objects for future use more often than would be expected by chance. Above-chance performance was observed in this older group even though most children failed the task because there was a low probability of selecting the correct 2 objects from a choice of 6 by chance.This study aimed to identify the age at which children begin to consistently pass this type of task. Three different tasks were designed in which children played a game on one side of a table, and then were asked to choose a tool to play a similar game on the other side of the table the next day. For example, children used a toy fishing rod to catch magnetic fish on one side of the table; playing the same game from the other side of the table required a different type of fishing rod. At test, children chose between just 2 objects: the tool they had already used, which would not work on the other side, and a different tool that they had not used before but which was suitable for the other side of the table. Experiment 1: Forty-eight 4-year-olds (M = 53.6 months, SD = 2.9) took part. These children were assigned to one of two conditions: a control condition (present-self) where the key test questions were asked in the present tense and an experimental condition (future-self) where the questions were in the future tense. Surprisingly, the results showed that both groups of 4-year-olds selected the correct tool at above chance levels (Table 1 shows the mean number of correct answers out of three). However, the children could see the apparatus when they answered the test questions and so perhaps answered them correctly without imagining the future. Experiment 2: Twenty-four 4-year-olds (M = 53.7, SD = 3.1) participated. Pre-schoolers in this study experienced one condition: future-self looking-away. In this condition children were asked to turn their backs to the games when answering the test questions, which were in the future tense. Children again performed above chance levels on all three games.Contrary to the findings of Russell et al. (2010), our results suggest that episodic future thinking skills could be present in 4-year-olds, assuming that this is what is measured by the tasks. Table 1. Mean number of correct answers across the three games in Experiments 1 and 2Experimental Conditions (N=24 in each condition)Mean CorrectStandardDeviationStatistical SignificanceExp. 1 (present-self, look) – 2 items2.750.68p < 0.001Exp. 1 (future-self, look) – 2 items 2.790.42p < 0.001Exp. 2 (future-self, away) – 2 items 2.330.64p < 0.001Exp. 3 (future-self away) – 3 items1.210.98p = 0.157

Comparing long-term placements for young children in care: Does type of placement really matter?

This paper presents findings from the third phase of a longitudinal study, entitled Care Pathways and Outcomes, which has been tracking the placements and measuring outcomes for a population of children (n = 374) who were under the age of five and in care in Northern Ireland on the 31st March 2000. It explores how a sub-sample of these children at age nine to 14 years old were getting on in the placements provided for them, in comparative terms across five placement types: adoption; foster care; kinship foster care (with relatives); on Residence Order; and living with birth parents. This specifically focused on the development of attachment and self-concept from the perspective of the children, and behavioural and emotional function, and parenting stress, from the perspective of parents and carers. Findings showed no significant placement effect from the perspective of children, and a statistically weak, but descriptively compelling, effect from the perspective of parents. The findings challenge the notion of adoption as the gold standard in long-term placements, specifically from the perspective of children in terms of their parent/carer attachments and self-concept, and highlight what appears to be the central importance of placement longevity for delivering positive longer-term outcomes for these children, irrespective of placement type.