Fathers' Infant‐Directed Speech in a Small‐Scale Society

When speaking to infants, mothers often alter their speech compared to how they speak to adults, but findings for fathers are mixed. This study examined interactions (N = 30) between fathers and infants (M_age ± SD = 7.8 ± 4.3 months) in a small‐scale society in Vanuatu and two urban societies in North America. Fundamental frequency (F₀) and speech rate were measured in infant‐directed and adult‐directed speech. When speaking to infants, fathers in both groups increased their F₀ range, yet only Vanuatu fathers increased their average F₀. Conversely, North American fathers slowed down their speech rate to infants, whereas Vanuatu fathers did not. Behavioral traits can vary across distant cultures while still potentially solving similar communicative problems.     

Cognitive Preferences in Agriculture of Middle‐School Students and their Teachers‡

Summaries

English

A special cognitive‐preference inventory dealing with agriculture was developed, validated and administered to 943 middle‐school students and their teachers. This is the first reported study of cognitive preferences of 7th and 8th grade (12 to 13 year‐old) students. The inventory was found to be a valid and reliable measure of cognitive preferences related to agricultural topics studied in Israeli schools.

Preference for application (A) was found to be negatively correlated in different students with either recall (R) or principles (P) or critical questioning (Q).

Studying the ‘new’ agriculture compared with the ‘old’, resulted in a lower preference for R and a higher preference for A. Female students had, on the average, a higher preference for R and P while males tended to prefer A and Q. Children whose fathers were simple workers had the highest preference for R while children whose fathers were academics had the lowest preference for R. Teachers, when compared with their students, had a much higher preference for P and a much lower preference for R. A close correspondence was found between reported emphasis in classroom tests and the cognitive‐preference modes of teachers.

     

Assessing pupils’ intelligence through self,parental, and teacher estimates

This study examined the accuracy of self‐ and other‐estimated intelligence in relation to tested cognitive ability and gender. Three groups of raters were examined: 187 (102 male, 85 female; mean age 14.33 years, SD = .32) pupils of single‐sex comprehensive schools, 109 (55 mothers and 54 fathers) parents, and six teachers of the pupils. Pupils estimated their own overall IQ, while their parents and teachers estimated the pupils’ overall, mathematical, spatial, and verbal abilities. Self‐ and other‐estimates were compared to each other, and to the child’s psychometric test scores in verbal, quantitative, and figural/non‐verbal reasoning ability. Results suggested that participants were reasonably accurate at estimating pupils’ intelligence – teachers significantly more so than parents, and pupils significantly more so than fathers. Although both parents significantly overestimated their child’s IQ, this overestimation was more pronounced in fathers.     

Within‐Family Relations in Objective Sleep Duration,Quality, and Schedule

The current study examined within‐family relations between mothers’, fathers’, and children's objectively assessed sleep. Participants were 163 children (M_age = 10.45 years; SD = 0.62) and their parents. For 7 nights, families wore actigraphs to assess sleep duration (minutes), quality (efficiency, long wake episode, total wake minutes), and schedule (wake time). A sleep log assessed bedtime. Multilevel models indicated that children's sleep minutes, sleep efficiency, wake minutes, and wake time were associated with fluctuations in their mothers’, but not fathers’, sleep that same night. The duration and quality of mothers’ sleep was associated with both fathers’ and children's sleep that night, whereas fathers’ sleep was positively associated with only mothers’ sleep. Findings highlight the importance of examining sleep within a family context.     

Angry Responses to Infant Challenges: Parent,Marital, and Child Genetic Factors Associated With Harsh Parenting

This study examined genetic and environmental influences on harsh parenting of adopted 9‐month‐olds (N = 503), with an emphasis on positive child‐, parent‐, and family‐level characteristics. Evocative gene–environment correlation (rGE) was examined by testing the effect of both positive and negative indices of birth parent temperament on adoptive parents’ harsh parenting. Adoptive fathers’ harsh parenting was inversely related to birth mother positive temperament, indicating evocative rGE, as well as to marital quality. Adoptive parents’ negative temperamental characteristics were related to hostile parenting for both fathers and mothers. Findings support the importance of enhancing positive family characteristics in addition to mitigating negative characteristics, as well as engaging multiple levels of the family system to prevent harsh parenting.     

The role of orthographic analogies in reading for meaning: evidence from readers with dyslexia

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the use of orthographic analogies in conditions that involved making sense of print (picture‐word matching) and pronouncing print (reading aloud) for readers with dyslexia. An adapted version of the classic clue‐word paradigm developed by Goswami was used. Participants were 40 readers with dyslexia and 40 reading‐age‐matched comparison readers. Based on previous theory and research in this area, we predicted that readers with dyslexia would read significantly fewer analogous words than their reading‐age‐matched counterparts. In light of the supposition that word‐picture matching does not require the synthesised pronunciation of a word, we also predicted that readers with dyslexia might be less impaired at analogy use in the picture‐word matching than in the reading aloud condition. However, we found that the dyslexic group read significantly fewer analogous words at post‐test than their reading‐age‐matched peers in both conditions. Also, performance in overall word reading was better for both groups in the word‐picture matching condition. The implications of these results for theory and practice in reading development are discussed, and methodological limitations are noted.     

Parenting and childhood aggression in the Chinese context: an examination of parental responses,physical coercion and warmth

Parental response, physical coercion and warmth and their relationships with childhood aggression were assessed with 277 children (142 boys; M age = 56.5 months, SD = 10.93 months) in Hong Kong. Results indicated that both fathers and mothers reported significantly more intervention strategies in response to hypothetical vignettes of physical aggression than relational aggression. Both fathers’ and mothers’ self-reported physical coercion was positively correlated with boys’ and girls’ composite scores of physical and relational aggression as reported by teachers, fathers and mothers, whereas fathers’ self-reported warmth was associated with a lower level of physical and relational aggression in boys. Furthermore, maternal warmth moderated the association between physical coercion and girls’ relational aggression. Findings suggest that parents’ normative beliefs regarding relational aggression should be challenged and the general acceptability of parental control in the Chinese context does not necessarily imply the absence of a link with childhood aggression.     

Vocal Pitch in Motherese

Summary Many writers have described motherese as characterised by higher vocal pitch relative to the pitch of adult to adult speech. The research literature pertaining to this issue is discussed under the following headings: cross‐cultural comparisons; male‐female comparisons; speaker's experience with children; speaker's attitudes towards and perceptions of children; social status of speaker; influence of child‐perceptions of children; social status of speaker; influence of child‐listener; age of child‐listener; state of arousal of child; nature of task; linguistic characteristics of speech and functions of raised pitch. Deficits in the resulting knowledge base are then identified. The review concludes with an outline of current developments in research in these areas.     

The effects of speech production and vocabulary training on different components of spoken language performance

A group of 21 hard-of-hearing and deaf children attending primary school were trained by their teachers on the production of selected consonants and on the meanings of selected words. Speech production, vocabulary knowledge, reading aloud, and speech perception measures were obtained before and after each type of training. The speech production training produced a small but significant improvement in the percentage of consonants correctly produced in words. The vocabulary training improved knowledge of word meanings substantially. Performance on speech perception and reading aloud were significantly improved by both types of training. These results were in accord with the predictions of a mathematical model put forward to describe the relationships between speech perception, speech production, and language measures in children (Paatsch, Blamey, Sarant, Martin, & Bow, 2004). These training data demonstrate that the relationships between the measures are causal. In other words, improvements in speech production and vocabulary performance produced by training will carry over into predictable improvements in speech perception and reading scores. Furthermore, the model will help educators identify the most effective methods of improving receptive and expressive spoken language for individual children who are deaf or hard of hearing.     

Academic self‐concept among business students in a recruiting university: definition,measurement and potential effects

This study sought to devise a parsimonious instrument for evaluating academic self‐concept (ASC) among British‐born students entering ‘mass‐market’ (post‐1992) universities that cater for diverse and ‘non‐traditional’ intakes. Three major facets of ASC were found to be particularly relevant to these students: self‐belief in one’s academic competence; self‐appreciation of one’s personal worth as a student (independent of ability‐related considerations); and self‐connection with being an undergraduate.     

A preliminary investigation of the concurrent validity of reading comprehension rate: A direct,dynamic measure of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension rate (RCR) is a direct measure of reading skills that may be useful in formatively evaluating students reading beyond the fourth‐grade level. To investigate the concurrent validity of RCR, we correlated RCR, reading comprehension level (RCL), and words correct per minute (WC/M) with the Broad Reading Cluster Scores of the Woodcock‐Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ‐III ACH) across 88 students in 4th, 5th, and 10th grades. Results showed that aloud‐RCR was significantly correlated with the WJ‐III ACH scores for 4th‐grade (r = .90; n = 22), 5th‐grade (r = .87; n = 29), and 10th‐grade (r = .65; n = 37) students. Regression analysis specified a one‐predictor model for 4th‐grade students (aloud‐RCR), a two‐predictor model for 5th‐grade students (WC/M and aloud‐RCR), and a one‐predictor model for 10th‐grade students (WC/M). Discussion focuses on directions for future research and applied issues related to RCR probe passage development. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 373–388, 2007.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parental Warmth,Hostility/Rejection/Neglect,and Behavioral Control: Specific and Unique Relations with Parents’ Depression Versus Anxiety Symptoms

Objective. This study advanced and tested conceptualizations of parents’ depression and anxiety in relation to parental warmth, hostility/rejection/neglect, and behavioral control, before and after controlling for comorbid symptoms. Design. Two-parent families (N = 119) with girls (aged 8 to 12) completed questionnaires on parents’ and girls’ depression and anxiety and parents’ parenting. Results. Both parents’ depression and anxiety were related to more hostility/rejection/neglect; and the relations with depression remained after controlling for anxiety, yet the relations with anxiety became non-significant after controlling for depression. Mothers’ and fathers’ depression remained significantly and uniquely related to more hostility/rejection/neglect after controlling for their anxiety in addition to parental warmth, family socioeconomic status, parents’ treatment status, and girls’ depression and anxiety symptoms. Both mothers’ and fathers’ anxiety were related to higher behavioral control, before and after controlling for the parent’s depression, hostility/rejection/neglect, and treatment status, as well as family socioeconomic status and girls’ depression and anxiety symptoms. Fathers’ depression was related to lower behavioral control only after controlling for fathers’ anxiety, and remained so after also controlling for fathers’ hostility/rejection/neglect and the other control variables. Fathers’ depression and anxiety also interacted in relation to behavioral control. Conclusions. Mothers’ and fathers’ depression and anxiety symptoms are differentially related to parental warmth, hostility/rejection/neglect, and behavioral control, especially when comorbid symptoms are considered.     

Effects of Mexican Immigrant Parents’ Daily Workplace Discrimination on Child Behavior and Family Functioning

This study investigated Mexican immigrant parents’ reports of perceived workplace discrimination and their children's behavior, parents’ moods, and parent–child interactions. Parents of one hundred and thirty‐eight 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children were asked to complete one survey daily for 2 weeks (N = 1,592 days). On days when fathers perceived discrimination, fathers and mothers reported more externalizing child behaviors, and mothers reported fewer positive child behaviors. When mothers perceived discrimination, they reported more externalizing child behaviors; fathers reported more internalizing child behaviors. Parents reported worse mood on days with perceived discrimination. Perceived discrimination was not strongly related to parent–child interactions. For fathers, but less so for mothers, those whose psychological acculturation indicated separation had more negative relations between daily perceived workplace discrimination and child and family outcomes.     

Parents’ self‐efficacy beliefs,parents’ gender,children’s reader self‐perceptions,reading achievement and gender

This study investigated the relationships among parents’ self‐efficacy beliefs, parents’ gender, children’s reader self‐perceptions, reading achievement and gender. This study consisted of 66 students, aged eight and nine, and 92 parents involved in a family literacy project for approximately one year. The study was conducted in a rural area of Eastern Canada. There were three instruments used in this study: a Questionnaire for Parents, a Reader Self‐Perception Scale (RSPS) (Henk & Melnick, 1995), and a standardised reading test (Test of Early Reading Ability‐2 – TERA‐2) (Reid, Hresko & Hammill, 1989). The Pearson‐Product‐Moment method and t‐tests were used to determine relationships in the data and to identify significant differences in scores on the instruments. Significant positive and negative relationships were found between mothers’ and fathers’ self‐efficacy beliefs and children’s reader self‐perceptions. Children’s self‐perceptions as readers significantly related to their reading achievement. Mothers had stronger beliefs than did fathers in their ability to help improve boys’ reading achievement. Significant differences favouring females were found in children’s reader self‐perceptions and their reading achievement. The findings of this study provide a basis for understanding factors related to young children’s reading achievement.     

The Effects of Read‐Aloud Accommodations for Students With and Without Disabilities: A Meta‐Analysis

Read‐aloud accommodations have been proposed as a way to help remove barriers faced by students with disabilities in reading comprehension. Many empirical studies have examined the effects of read‐aloud accommodations; however, the results are mixed. With a variance‐known hierarchical linear modeling approach, based on 114 effect sizes from 23 studies, a meta‐analysis was conducted to examine the effects of read‐aloud accommodations for students with and without disabilities. In general, both students with disabilities and students without disabilities benefited from the read‐aloud accommodations, and the accommodation effect size for students with disabilities was significantly larger than the effect size for students without disabilities. Further, this meta‐analysis reveals important factors that influence the effects of read‐aloud accommodations. For instance, the accommodation effect was significantly stronger when the subject area was reading than when the subject area was math. The effect of read‐aloud accommodations was also significantly stronger when the test was read by human proctors than when it was read by video/audio players or computers. Finally, the implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Distinct Influences of Mothers and Fathers on Kindergartners’ Numeracy Performance: The Role of Math Anxiety,Home Numeracy Practices,and Numeracy Expectations

The current study analyzed maternal and paternal differential influences on numeracy performance in kindergarten children. Participants were 180 Chilean children from backgrounds of low and high socioeconomic status (SES), their mothers, and their fathers. A path analysis was used to explore the influences of both maternal and paternal numeracy practices on children’s numeracy performance and the influences of maternal and paternal expectations and anxiety on those activities. Research Findings: Results showed that mothers and fathers who endorse higher numeracy expectations for their children and who report lower levels of math anxiety also report engaging more frequently in advanced numeracy practices with their children. Mothers’—but not fathers’—engagement in numeracy practices at home predicted children’s numeracy performance. Also, low-SES mothers engaged more frequently in numeracy practices with their children, and mothers in general engaged more often in numeracy activities with girls than with boys. Practice or Policy: These findings improve understanding of how maternal and paternal processes relate differently to numeracy performance in kindergarten children. Moreover, these results highlight the need to take into account parents’ numeracy attitudes and practices, as well as their SES, when designing interventions directed at increasing family support for math achievement.     

Young Infants’ Word Comprehension Given An Unfamiliar Talker or Altered Pronunciations

To understand spoken words, listeners must appropriately interpret co‐occurring talker characteristics and speech sound content. This ability was tested in 6‐ to 14‐months‐olds by measuring their looking to named food and body part images. In the new talker condition (n = 90), pictures were named by an unfamiliar voice; in the mispronunciation condition (n = 98), infants’ mothers “mispronounced” the words (e.g., nazz for nose). Six‐ to 7‐month‐olds fixated target images above chance across conditions, understanding novel talkers, and mothers’ phonologically deviant speech equally. Eleven‐ to 14‐months‐olds also understood new talkers, but performed poorly with mispronounced speech, indicating sensitivity to phonological deviation. Between these ages, performance was mixed. These findings highlight the changing roles of acoustic and phonetic variability in early word comprehension, as infants learn which variations alter meaning.     

Naming speed and word familiarity as confounding factors in decoding

The present investigation has three aims: (1) to establish a suitable composite index which combines speed and accuracy in the measurement of decoding skill; (2) to examine whether speed acts as a confounding factor in the measurement of decoding ability; and (3) to see whether familiarity with the word, as indicated by the ability to pronounce it, or lack of it acts as a confounding factor in the assessment of spelling skills. Three studies were conducted to fulfill these aims. In the first study, 33 children from Grade 2 were asked to name a list of 40 letters of the alphabet as quickly and as accurately as possible. A combined index of speed and accuracy was computed from these two sets of data using two formulas, which were based on the ‘z’ score and the mean variance score. A Pearson product‐moment correlation coefficient of 0.94 was obtained between the results of the two formulas indicating that the two formulas yield almost identical results. In the second study, 37 fifth‐graders were administered the word‐attack sub‐test of Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery. When the speed and accuracy composite index, based on the ‘z formula’ was applied to the word‐attack scores, it was found that three children were slow decoders even though their scores were within the normal range. In the third study, 39 children from Grade 3 and 40 children from Grade 5 were asked to read aloud a list of words and then these words were administered as a spelling test. Subsequently, their spelling ability was assessed by computing the number of words they could both read and spell correctly. When familiarity of words was included as a factor in assessing spelling ability, five children in Grade 3 and three children in Grade 5 were found to be misclassified as poor spellers. This indicates that including word‐naming speed and word familiarity (i.e. ability to pronounce) produce different metrics than when they are not. Inclusion of speed and familiarity factors in assessment can be helpful in avoiding false negatives and false positives.     

Vagal Suppression Buffers Against the Negative Effects of Psychological Inflexibility on Parenting Behaviors in Combat Deployed Fathers

SYNOPSIS

Objective : Vagal suppression is a parasympathetic physiological indicator of emotion regulation and social engagement behaviors, often measured via heart rate variability. Experiential avoidance reflects psychological inflexibility or poor emotion regulation. We tested the interaction effects of parental vagal suppression and experiential avoidance on observed parenting behaviors among combat deployed fathers. Design . We analyzed data from 92 male National Guard/Reserve members who had returned from a deployment to Iraq and/or Afghanistan since 2001. They were mostly European American, in their 30s, middle-class, and married. All fathers participated in home-based assessments with their spouses (if married) and a target child aged 4–13 years. Fathers’ vagal suppression was measured as the decrease in cardiac vagal tone (i.e., high frequency heart rate variability) from a neutral reading task to a father-child conflict resolution task. Experiential avoidance was self-reported. Parenting behaviors were observed during family interaction tasks and coded into positive engagement and withdrawal avoidance using a macro-level coding system. Results . Multiple regression analysis showed no main effects of vagal suppression on observed parenting, but interaction effects of experiential avoidance by vagal suppression on observed parenting. Specifically, among fathers with higher vagal suppression, we found no relations between experiential avoidance and observed parenting; among fathers with lower vagal suppression, we found an inverse association between experiential avoidance and positive engagement as well as a positive association between experiential avoidance and withdrawal avoidance. Conclusions . The effect of psychological inflexibility on military fathers’ parenting behaviors was moderated by vagal suppression. The findings have implications for the linkage between emotion regulation and parenting in military fathers.     

‘The torment of every seminary’: the teaching of French in British schools, 1780–1830

This article reconsiders the way in which the French language was taught in British schools from 1780 to 1830. In particular, it is shown that (contrary to recent claims) the use of recitation‐ and conversation‐based techniques, as opposed to rule‐based grammatical learning, persisted well into the 1820s, both in influential pedagogic textbooks and in the practical teaching methods favoured by certain schools. In order to reveal the extent of this trend, several neglected sources – such as Nicolas Dufief’s Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man (1804) and Arthur Hill and Matthew Hill’s Public Education (1822) – are assessed in some detail. In essence, this article argues that the favoured methods used to teach French in British schools in the early nineteenth century were far more diverse and heterogeneous than is usually acknowledged.