Investigated taboos and beliefs about the nutritional value of foods among pregnant women from Nigeria's Hausa and Yoruba tribes. Found that Hausa women had greater nutritional anemia than Yoruba women; their babies had greater incidence of low birth weights and smaller chest and head measurements. Hausa women learned food-related beliefs from…

Compared the interaction of depressed and nondepressed mothers and their infants with joint attention during mother-infant play. Found that although maternal vocal attention was generally higher for male infants than for female infants, depressed mothers gave more vocal attention to female infants. Found no correlation between mothers' vocal…

Investigated how Soviet immigrant families in Israel perceive situations of child maltreatment. Found that families indicated that parents' behavior was unacceptable in cases of neglect or abuse; even when child behavior was unacceptable that parents' behavior was not legitimate. There was a low level of willingness to involve people from outside…

Used content analysis to examine the depiction of poverty in 18 books for young children. Book content was coded using nine categories (occupation, income, employment, unemployment, race, ethnicity, geographic locale, education, and family structure). Found that all nine categories appeared in the books and that although some findings diverged…

Discusses social learning family therapy hypotheses on the development and sustenance of conduct disorder in early childhood, together with treatment approaches that use parents as the primary agents of change. Reviews research showing that parent training procedures hold much promise for the treatment of conduct disorder in childhood. (JPB)

Investigated resilience, as assessed by mothers, among 4- to 11-year-old children of Taiwanese immigrant families in the United States. Found that maternal support for child resilience and mixed cultural rearing style was most predictive of children's resilience, but maternal employment was not associated with resilience. Boys were less resilient…

Examined the relationships between young children's language ability and their home or day care play environments. Found that mother-child interaction pattern was the best predictor of children's language abilities, even though teachers and day care mothers engaged in better quality interactions than did home care mothers. Aspects of home…

Defines a structured approach to the development of drug prevention policy and practice in the primary school in Britain. Discusses the school environment, program evaluation criteria, and the relationship in practice between the primary school and other age groups. Compares prevention approaches between Britain and other countries, and describes…

Reviews research on the effect of marital violence on children. Discusses some of the adjustment problems children face when exposed to parental fighting, the prevalence of marital violence, the factors that may protect children from the effects of violence, and the implications for professionals who work in the area of family violence. (JPB)

Describes the process for gathering and organizing products of teacher activity in the form of a portfolio. Discusses typical products and documents to be included and the reflective questions that are used to select entries. Notes that portfolios are considered to provide insight to the content and method of instruction and a qualitative…

Investigated two approaches to all-day kindergarten to determine their differential effects on the students. One approach provided teacher training and support; the other did not. Found that children in the program with teacher training and support were rated by teachers as more developmentally competent, exhibiting more prosocial classroom…

Studied attitudes of Scottish university students preparing to be preschool teachers regarding their preschool placement experiences and how those experiences relate to competency guidelines used to assess their learning. Found that students believe that preschool experience will make them better primary teachers, and appreciate teamwork, the…

Considers the need for developing a theoretical framework for therapy in family centers. Examines the contribution of concepts of "emotional containment" and "holding" from parent-infant relationship theories to management and therapy. Explores how workers' anxieties can be managed so reflective practice and therapeutic relationships are…

Used a pretest-posttest control group design to study the effects of interactive storybook software on the verbal development of 60 kindergarteners from low income families. Found that, for the 25 children who interacted with the software a minimum of 300 minutes over 7 weeks, there was a significant increase in verbal ability. (Author/KB)

Examined beliefs and practices of Korean early childhood teachers. Found that public kindergarten teachers had more academic preparation and teaching experience and reported implementing more appropriate and fewer inappropriate teaching practices than other teachers. Child caregivers used more inappropriate teaching strategies than public or…