Emotion and emotion regulation: from another perspective

An overview of the content of the From Another Perspective collection on emotion and emotion regulation is provided. The lead article identifies fundamental issues of definition and the commentaries represent varying theoretical and methodological perspectives on emotion and emotion regulation. Together, the articles discuss the promises and pitfalls of emotion research and its potential for understanding child development.     

Dual-Earner Wives' And Husbands' Perceptions of Their Children's Day Care Experiences: Relationship to Personal Well-Being,Marital Stress,and Job Satisfaction

Dual-earner mothers and fathers whose children were enrolled in day care for at least two years were asked to rate the care environment, assess its effects on children's development and parent–child relations, and to provide assessments of marital stress, job satisfaction, and emotional support. Mothers and fathers did not differ significantly on any of the measures. A path model failed to provide support for the contention that personal well- being mediates influences from the broader social context on the parent–child relationship of day care children; however, it did show that the parent–child relationship may buffer certain influences from the broader social context on children's developmental status. The data are discussed with respect to the need to examine day care issues from an interrelated systems perspective.     

The viability of pediatric hospices: a case study

This paper identifies the special characteristics needed by hospices caring for terminally ill children. It is based on a feasibility study conducted in 1979 for a pediatric hospital in New York City. From the analysis of statistical data and confidential interviews with health care professionals in the hospital and in the community, the study concludes that the needs of terminally ill children and their families are not being met currently and that the hospice is as appropriate for children as for adults. Three major differences in emphasis are noted, however. First, support of the family suffering the death of a child is of prime importance, because the grief is devastating and long lasting and because the number of family members affected is usually large. Second, the hospice emphasis on home care is even more imperative for children than for adults as it more significantly benefits both child and family; home care can be facilitated through supplementary care components such as day care. Third, there is a major need for both professional and public education in caring for terminally ill children and their families and in coping with childhood death. The author concludes that further research is needed in all aspects of pediatric terminal care.     

A Study of the Relationship Between Child Care Providers' Use of HIV/AIDS Information Sources, Knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and Attitudes Toward Caregiving Policies

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), has been a part of American society for over two decades. Today, HIV/AIDS touches all demographic groups, including young children. It is for this reason that child care providers need to be informed about HIV/AIDS and related policies that impact their work with young children. The purpose of this study was to examine child care providers' use of different HIV/AIDS information sources in relationship to their knowledge about HIV/AIDS and their response to common childhood behaviors and classroom situations involving an HIV-infected child. Results suggest that different types of information sources are associated with different aspects of providers' knowledge about and response to pediatric HIV/AIDS. Implications for the planning and delivery of HIV/AID training involving child care providers are discussed.     

The Context of Child Care for Toddlers: The “Experience Expectable Environment”

An experience expectable environment in child care classrooms is one in which teachers consistently provide positive and nurturing interactions within daily routines and activities to enhance children’s learning. Growing numbers of children are being enrolled in child care at earlier ages and staying for longer periods of time each day which is heightening the need to attend to the context of child care for very young children. Several large scale studies in social policy, biology, and human development have confirmed the links between children’s early experiences and later outcomes, and recent brain research and research in child care classrooms has highlighted the importance of these consistent, responsive, and respectful patterns of interaction, especially for very young children’s development. Yet, examination of the quality of child care has indicated interactions in these classrooms that may not support optimal development and/or that could be considered harmful. Given toddlers’ need for consistent and nurturing care, coupled with the current substandard quality of care for very young children, discussing the context of child care in terms of an experience expectable environment provides a perspective to understand the context of toddler child care. This perspective underscores the connections of routines and interactions to children’s development of neural pathways, thus setting the foundation for optimizing learning and development.     

Child abuse in Nigeria

Although child abuse occurs in Nigeria, it has received little attention. This is probably due to the emphasis placed on the more prevalent childhood problems of malnutrition and infection. Another possible reason is the general assumption that in every African society the extended family system always provides love, care and protection to all children. Yet there are traditional child rearing practices which adversely affect some children, such as purposeful neglect or abandonment of severely handicapped children, and twins or triplets in some rural areas. With the alteration of society by rapid socioeconomic and political changes, various forms of child abuse have been identified, particularly in the urban areas. These may be considered the outcome of abnormal interactions of the child, parents/ guardians and society. They include abandonment of normal infants by unmarried or very poor mothers in cities, increased child labour and exploitation of children from rural areas in urban elite families, and abuse of children in urban nuclear families by childminders . Preventive measures include provision of infrastructural facilities and employment opportunities in the rural areas in order to prevent drift of the young population to the cities. This would sustain the supportive role of the extended family system which is rapidly being eroded. There is need for more effective legal protection for the handicapped child, and greater awareness of the existence of child abuse in the community by health and social workers.     

Providing high quality child care

The trend toward a growing proportion of American women employed outside the home is clear. One- and two-parent families, often out of economic necessity, are seeking alternative care arrangements for their infants and preschool-aged children. As many are experiencing full-day, alternative child care during part or all of their developmentally crucial first five years, there is a need to focus on the quality of day care. Several recent reviews of center-based day care research have portrayed this experience as a relatively benign influence on the development of young children provided that a high level of quality is maintained (Belsky & Steinberg, 1978; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Etaugh, 1979). What are the implications of this research for child care providers? If it is true that high quality child care has a benign effect on young children's development, what can child care providers do to ensure quality care?     

Early childhood care and education in Curaçao 1

Children's health situation is generally good and stable. However, child abuse and negligence are growing problems. For many parents their children's education has not the priority it should have. Specialists say parents lack educational skills and motivation. Another part of the story, however, is that stabilising and compensating relationships, which were available in the traditional extended family, broke down. The end of the extended family meant the end of shared responsibility for child care and education within the family. At present Curagao has about 120 creches and play groups. The creches are rather safe places, but not all are places for developmental enrichment. Play groups generally lack qualified staff, good materials and attention for children. There is a growing need for good quality child care centres.

     

Correlates of ability patterns in children and adults: Implications for teaching

Several researches are presented as evidence that children with a high verbal -low spatial ability profile fend to respond in the “usual” way to social reinforcement or praise, whereas children with a high spatial - low verbal profile do not find such praise reinforcing. Several implications for teaching such HiS-LoS and HiV-LoS children are seen in these studies and considered in detail. Specifically the following implications are discussed: (a) the need for better identification of children with HiV-LoS and HiS-LoV profiles, (b) what kinds of reinforcers to use with these children in the classroom, (c) group vs. individual instruction, (d) the need to socialize the HiS-LoV child, and (e) the need for care in academic assessment.     

Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care,maternal education,and family literacy environments

This investigation used structural equation modeling to examine sources of children's reading, vocabulary, general information, mathematics, and letter recognition skills upon entrance to kindergarten. Potential predictors included ethnicity, gender, child IQ, family literacy environment, maternal education, and months in child care centers. Family literacy environment had positive causal links with four of five academic measures. Greater number of months in child care centers was associated with higher mathematics scores among children from less educated mothers who scored low on a measure of family literacy environment. In contrast, no effects of child care were found for children from mothers with more education. Implications include the need for strong parental involvement in children's development and subsidized child care for children in need.     

Understanding Cortisol Reactivity across the Day at Child Care: The Potential Buffering Role of Secure Attachments to Caregivers

Full-day center-based child care has been repeatedly associated with rising cortisol across the child care day. This study addressed the potential buffering role of attachment to mothers and lead teachers in 110 preschoolers while at child care. Using multi-level modeling and controlling for a number of child, family, and child care factors, children with more secure attachments to teachers were more likely to show falling cortisol across the child care day. Attachment to mothers interacted with child care quality, with buffering effects found for children with secure attachments attending higher quality child care. Implications for early childhood educators are discussed.     

Children with Severe Behavior Problems: A Survey of Texas Child Care Centers' Responses

This article presents the findings of an exploratory study designed to look at the issue of removal of children from childcare due to behavior problems. A survey was sent to a random sample of nonresidential licensed day care centers (DCCs) in Texas. Results from the survey indicate that 50% of DCCs have removed a child from care due to behavior problems. In most cases, parents were left to figure out for themselves what to do with their children following their dismissal from care. This and other relationships found in the data are discussed as well as the need for future research in this area.     

Getting Ready for School: An Examination of Early Childhood Educators’ Belief Systems

This study examines early childhood educators’ beliefs about what children need prior to before entering kindergarten. Focus group interviews were conducted with early childhood educators from three learning settings: public center-based programs, private center-based programs, and family child care centers. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the data. Across program types, educators said that three levels should be addressed to help prepare a child for school: child, home, and teacher. The child must be physically and emotionally ready to engage with others and participate in learning opportunities, acquire basic skills, such as letter recognition, and have reasoning skills that enable the child to problem-solve. At the home level, emotionally preparing the child for the transition and creating a home environment that promotes learning were reported as key to getting children for school. Teacher relationships with parents also emerged as important school readiness factor. Differences across program types are discussed.     

Regulation,subsidy receipt and provider characteristics: What predicts quality in child care homes?

Far less is known about predictors of quality for family child care homes than for child care centers. The current study of 120 randomly-selected family child care providers in four Midwestern states examined distal, state policy-level variables (family child care regulations and the concentration of children cared for who received public child care subsidies, referred to as subsidy density), and proximal, provider-level variables (providers’ level of education and reported annual training hours) as influences on global quality and caregiver sensitivity. More regulation, lower subsidy density, higher levels of provider education and more training hours were associated with higher global quality in family child care homes. Lower subsidy density and higher provider education were associated with more sensitive caregiving, but no effects on sensitivity were observed for regulation and training hours. An interaction effect indicated that regulation moderated the relation between education and sensitivity; education was especially important for sensitive caregiving among providers low in regulation. In addition, after including all predictor variables in the model, significant mean differences between states were noted. Findings demonstrate that both policy-level variables and provider characteristics influence quality in family child care homes, and further, that they may interact to affect observed child care quality. Implications for state child care policies are discussed with emphasis on implications for quality of care for low-income children whose tuition is paid by public child care subsidies.     

Group Size and Storybook Reading: Two-Year-Old Children's Verbal and Nonverbal Participation With Books

Storybook reading in child care classrooms typically occurs in one large group, a context that does not provide opportunities for each child to talk about the book. Two-year-old children, in particular, need individual support to facilitate their language participation, and they want to touch the book and be close to the teacher. The purpose of the present study was to determine if reducing group size would increase 2-year-old children's engagement and verbal participation during storybook reading, and to describe their nonverbal participation. Fifteen 2-yearold children and six teachers in two classrooms participated. A multiple baseline across settings time-series experimental design was used. Videotapes were transcribed and coded for children's engagement, comments and questions, and nonverbal participation. Observations of book use were conducted during freeplay. The average number of comments and questions per child approximately doubled when reading occurred in small groups. Children participated nonverbally by actions such as pointing, handling books, moving close to the teacher, interacting with peers, and pretending. The results indicate that reducing group size can be an effective method for increasing the verbal participation of 2-year-old children during storybook reading in child care classrooms. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of ecological context, and ways of including small group storybook reading in the daily schedule are suggested.     

Group Size and Storybook Reading: Two-Year-Old Children's Verbal and Nonverbal Participation With Books

Storybook reading in child care classrooms typically occurs in one large group, a context that does not provide opportunities for each child to talk about the book. Two-year-old children, in particular, need individual support to facilitate their language participation, and they want to touch the book and be close to the teacher. The purpose of the present study was to determine if reducing group size would increase 2-year-old children's engagement and verbal participation during storybook reading, and to describe their nonverbal participation. Fifteen 2-yearold children and six teachers in two classrooms participated. A multiple baseline across settings time-series experimental design was used. Videotapes were transcribed and coded for children's engagement, comments and questions, and nonverbal participation. Observations of book use were conducted during freeplay. The average number of comments and questions per child approximately doubled when reading occurred in small groups. Children participated nonverbally by actions such as pointing, handling books, moving close to the teacher, interacting with peers, and pretending. The results indicate that reducing group size can be an effective method for increasing the verbal participation of 2-year-old children during storybook reading in child care classrooms. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of ecological context, and ways of including small group storybook reading in the daily schedule are suggested.     

Multiple child care arrangements and child well being: Early care experiences in Australia

Nearly one quarter of Australian children under the age of 5 experience multiple non-parental child care arrangements. Research focused on the relationship between multiple child care arrangements and child socioemotional development is limited, particularly in Australia. Evidence from the United States and Europe has linked multiple child care arrangements to increases in children's problem behaviors (0065 and 0155), but there is little corresponding evidence on Australian children's child care experiences. Using a nationally representative sample of Australian children, we examined the associations between concurrent multiple child care arrangements and child socioemotional and behavioral development at age 4.5. We found suggestive evidence that child care multiplicity at age 4.5 is related to higher levels of behavior problems. However, this relationship is moderated by prior child care experiences. We found that prior care multiplicity mitigates the relationship between concurrent multiplicity and children's prosocial skills and conduct problems. In contrast, moving from a single arrangement or no non-parental child care to multiple arrangements appears to be negatively associated with children's concurrent socioemotional skills. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

家庭托育点规范化发展的国际经验及启示--基于政策工具的视角

在日本、法国、英国、丹麦、澳大利亚、加拿大等国,家庭托育是其托育服务体系的重要组成部分,所以这些国家都形成了相对完善的家庭托育政策管理体系。从国际经验来看,虽然家庭托育的服务类型多样,但是纳入监管的主要是由有资质(注册)的照护人员在自己家(或租赁的住宅)中提供保教结合的服务内容的家庭托育点,政府责任以保障兜底服务为主,广泛使用了权威工具、激励工具和能力建设工具,包括明确行政主管部门与家庭托育点的准入标准和审批流程,给予财政和非财政支持,加强师资培训和质量监管,等等。当前虽然我国很多城市普遍兴起家庭托育点,但是尚未出台关于家庭托育点的管理规范与措施。借鉴国际相关公共管理经验,我国应构建符合利益相关者的家庭托育政策目标,合理运用政策权威工具,建立全方位安全监管体系,组合配置激励工具与能力建设工具,支持家庭托育点规范有序发展,以满足婴幼儿家庭对具备收托幼儿数量少、师幼配比高、收托时间灵活、送托距离近等诸多便利条件的家庭托育点的需求。     

Parents' and Kindergarten Teachers' Beliefs About the Effects of Child Care

Parents' and kindergarten teachers' beliefs about the effects of child care on children's adjustment to school were investigated. Using a standardized behavioral rating scale, both groups were asked to rate two hypothetical children just entering kindergarten; one with full-day child care experience and one who had only experienced care in the home by a parent or relative. There was an interaction between the experience of the believer and their ratings of the two hypothetical children. Parents who had used child care for their own children rated the 'day care child' most positively. Parents who had kept their own children at home rated the 'home care child' most positively. Kindergarten teachers rated both hypothetical children equally, but more negatively than parents. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Examining Change in Cortisol Patterns During the 10‐Week Transition to a New Child‐Care Setting

The transition to out‐of‐home child care brings a number of challenges for children, including complex peer interactions and extended separations from parents. Children often show a midmorning to afternoon rise in cortisol on child‐care days, compared to the typical diurnal decline seen at home. Changes in cortisol were examined in a wide age range of children (N = 168; 1.2 months to 8 years, M = 3.27 years) during the 10‐week transition to a new child‐care setting. Structural equation modeling using latent change scores showed that children experienced an increase in the cortisol rise at child care across the 10‐week transition. Furthermore, child age moderated the difference between home‐ and child‐care cortisol patterns. Findings are placed in a developmental context, and potential implications and future directions are discussed.