Brief report : maltreatment in childhood and body concerns in adulthood

Objective: We examined the relationship between maltreatment in childhood and body concerns in adulthood.

Method: A community sample of 156 women and 143 men completed measures of maltreatment – frequency of sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse and emotional neglect – in childhood. They also reported current dissatisfaction with body weight and shape and drive for thinness and drive for muscle.

Results and conclusions: Childhood maltreatment was associated with drive for muscle in women and body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness in men. The results provide some evidence that adverse conditions in childhood can be associated with gender-atypical body concerns in adulthood.

Literacy in early childhood and primary education : issues, challenges and solutions

Literacy in Early Childhood and Primary Education provides a comprehensive introduction to literacy teaching and learning. The book explores the continuum of literacy learning and children's transitions from early childhood settings to junior primary classrooms and then to senior primary and beyond. Reader-friendly and accessible, this book equips pre-service teachers with the theoretical underpinnings and practical strategies to teach literacy. It places the 'reading wars' firmly in the past as it examines contemporary research and practices. The book covers important topics such as assessment, multiliteracies, reading difficulties and diverse classrooms. Each chapter includes learning objectives, reflective questions and definitions of key terms to engage and assist readers. Written by an expert author team and featuring real-world examples from literacy teachers and learners, the book will help pre-service teachers feel confident teaching literacy to diverse age groups and abilities.

The appropriateness of opt-out consent for monitoring childhood obesity in Australia

Childhood obesity monitoring is a fundamental component of obesity prevention but is poorly done in Australia. Monitoring obesity prevalence in children provides important population health data that can be used to track trends over time, identify areas at greatest risk of obesity, determine the effectiveness of interventions and policies, raise awareness and stimulate action. High participation rates are essential for effective monitoring because these provide more representative data. Passive (‘opt-out’) consent has been shown to provide high participation rates in international childhood obesity monitoring programs and in a recent Australian federal initiative monitoring early child development. A federal initiative structured like existing child development monitoring programs, but with the authority to collect height and weight measurements using opt-out consent, is recommended to monitor rates of childhood obesity in Australia.

(Re)viewing the landscape inside and outside the box : providing effective support for early childhood student teachers

This paper presents key findings from a study that investigated how early childhood student teachers perceived the support, guidance and mentoring facilities that were available to them and aspects of their courses. The study was conducted by lecturers who were delivering the three year Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) degree to a multicultural student cohort in a New Zealand polytechnic. A multi-method approach was taken and involved practitioner action research, questionnaires and interviews with students. The findings showed that whilst first year students found large group guidance useful, second and third year students preferred small group and individual support. Being able to email lecturers, particularly during practicum placements, was important for students. During practicum placements Associate Teachers who were culturally competent communicators and fully informed about students’ coursework were important for student success. Practicums where students experienced open communication were included as part of the teaching team and felt well-informed about the philosophy and practices of the centre were found to increase their confidence and competence. However, students expressed concern that in some placements, they felt under informed or isolated. Hence, this paper argues that lecturers and Associate Teachers should be proactive about initiating communication with students and optimize opportunities for individual mentoring through questions and guided reflection.

Come play with me : an argument to link autism spectrum disorders and anorexia nervosa through early childhood pretend play

This article builds on the argument of a link between behaviours observed in persons with autism spectrum disorders and persons with anorexia nervosa. In describing these behaviours, a link is made between deficits in social cognition, lack of flexible and creative thinking, theory of mind, and deficits in early pretend play ability. Early pretend play ability is a strong avenue to the development and strengthening of social cognition, problem solving, language, logical sequential thought, and understanding social situations. Currently, there is no literature on the pretend play ability of persons who develop anorexia nervosa. This article argues for research into this area which may potentially contribute to developments in new intervention strategies for these persons.

Childhood cruelty to animals in China: the relationship with psychological adjustment and family functioning

Background
The current study broadened the general scope of research conducted on childhood cruelty to animals by examining the association between psychological adjustment, family functioning and animal cruelty in an Eastern context, China.

Method
The mothers and fathers of 729 children attending primary school in Chengdu, China participated in this study. Each parent completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument, and the Children's Attitudes and Behaviours towards Animals questionnaire.

Results
Findings from an actor partner interdependence model demonstrated that parents' ratings of family functioning and of their child's externalizing coping style predicted only modest amounts of variance in animal cruelty. In particular, parents' ratings of their child's externalizing coping style most consistently predicted animal cruelty. Family functioning, fathers' ratings in particular, played a minor role, more so for boys compared with girls.

Conclusion
This study provided the first insight into childhood animal cruelty in China, and suggests that further research may enhance our understanding of these phenomena.

Three year follow-up of an early childhood intervention : is movement skill sustained?

Background
Movement skill competence (e.g. the ability to throw, run and kick) is a potentially important physical activity determinant. However, little is known about the long-term impact of interventions to improve movement skills in early childhood. This study aimed to determine whether intervention preschool children were still more skill proficient than controls three years after a 10 month movement skill focused intervention: ‘Tooty Fruity Vegie in Preschools’.

Methods
Children from 18 intervention and 13 control preschools in NSW, Australia were assessed at ages four (Time1), five (T2) and eight years (T3) for locomotor (run, gallop, hop, leap, horizontal jump, slide) and object control proficiency (strike, bounce, catch, kick, overhand throw, underhand roll) using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2. Multi-level object control and locomotor regression models were fitted with variables time, intervention (yes/no) and a time*intervention interaction. Both models added sex of child and retained if significant, in which case interactions of sex of child with other variables were modelled and retained. SPSS (Version 17.0) was used.

Results
Overall follow-up rate was 29% (163/560). Of the 137 students used in the regression models, 53% were female (n = 73). Intervention girls maintained their object control skill advantage in comparison to controls at T3 (p = .002), but intervention boys did not (p = .591). At T3, there were no longer intervention/control differences in locomotor skill (p = .801).

Conclusion
Early childhood settings should implement movement skill interventions and more intensively target girls and object control skills.

The intentional teaching of science in early childhood settings

The introduction of the new “Early Years Learning Framework” (DEEWR, 2009) has shifted the focus in Early Childhood Centres (ECC) from incidental learning through play, to planning curriculum with play as the vehicle to achieve learning in science. Using student research, we identified instances of educator practice that fitted with the new framework, and videoed practitioners’ sessions to select vignettes to use as part of an Early Childhood Science Education Unit. This presentation will discuss the varied practitioners’ approaches we saw and students’ and teachers’ interpretations of forms of ‘intentional teaching, with particular reference to science. We formulated an ‘Intentional Teaching Spectrum’ for the purpose of locating along it early childhood educator practice that differed in the opportunities that practice provided for creative and innovative children’s activity. As this work is not yet complete, full analysis of the video material is yet to be completed, so descriptive aspects only will be discussed.

Preservation of confucian values in early childhood education : a study of experts’ and educators’ views

Confucian values form the core of the Chinese culture, penetrating all levels of social life, and also set the standards for family, community and political behavior. The teaching of values is deemed to be an important aspect of young children’s education and usually the responsibility for this is seen to rest with the family. Much interest has been generated recently on the teaching of core values in early childhood curriculum in order to encourage tolerance, acceptance, trust, openness, and honesty in children. Research on Confucianism is popularly conducted in different cultural contexts all over the world. Furthermore research has shown that Confucianism continues to exert a major influence on the everyday lives of Asian communities. Given the interest in Confucian values, this research study was designed to examine the expressed views of three cohorts of professionals in Hong Kong about the preservation of such values and their application to early childhood teaching. This study confirmed the view that there is a need to preserve cultural values to enable the child to be accepted in the society, especially with the value of ‘Ren’ helping one to learn how to interact with others and with the value of ‘Li’ further defining the appropriate behaviour in this interaction.