Child & Youth Care Forum最新文献

Background

The scientific literature addresses the portrayal of unaccompanied migrant children and young people from different perspectives. Some works suggest that this population face challenges and risks upon arrival, such as problems communicating in a new language, a lack of cultural competence, economic stress, and other contingent, legal, and social problems. Other studies focus on resilience, including coping strategies, effective trauma symptom management, the preservation of a sense of personal pride, a capacity to prevent self-isolation, and societal openness to diversity.

Objectives

The objective of this study is to identify, systematize, and expose these factors through a socio-ecological model.

Methods

The present study has conducted a systematic literature review on unaccompanied foreign minors’ protective and risk factors for integration.

Results

A final sample of 36 papers has been selected according to the inclusion criteria. The published evidence suggests a bidirectional effect of risk and protective factors in their integration into the reception society. Unaccompanied minors are not seen only from the perspective of their vulnerability but also as resilient children in inclusive contexts as a continuum in the integration model.

Conclusions

Addressing the issue of unaccompanied migrant minors from a socio-ecological perspective allows us to analyze the migratory phenomenon not only as a problem to solve but also as an opportunity. When unaccompanied children’s vulnerability and resilience factors are considered together in a holistic approach, the picture of how intervention should be focused on the interconnectivity of risk and protective factors for social integration.

Background

Public preschool can provide opportunities for earlier detection of child health problems and receipt of special needs services. This is especially important for children from low-income households who disproportionately face cost barriers to obtaining health screenings and services.

Objective

This study explores the possibility that entering public preschool at age 3 instead of age 4 could contribute to earlier detection of health problems and receipt of special needs services for low-income children.

Method

We analyzed data on 757 low-income children in Tulsa, Oklahoma who attended Head Start or public pre-k. We compared rates of parent-reported health conditions and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) at age 4 according to children’s pattern of preschool attendance across their 3- and 4-year-old years, using propensity score-weighted logistic regressions.

Results

At the spring of their 4-year-old year, children who had entered preschool at age 3 were more likely than those who entered at age 4 to have eczema (OR = 3.25, p < .05) and vision problems (OR = 2.26, p < .05). Among children who entered preschool at age 3, those who stayed in Head Start at age 4 were marginally more likely than those who transitioned to school based pre-k at age 4 to have asthma (OR = 3.81, p = .055) and allergies (OR = 2.16, p = .088). There were no differences in rates of IEPs by children’s preschool experience.

Conclusions

If replicated, results underscore the potentially unrealized public health benefits of expanding public preschool access to 3-year-olds.

Background

The transmission of attachment from parent to child is a well-known phenomenon. Previous research documented evidence supporting the transmission of attachment from parents to their children, with parental sensitivity serving a mediating role. Nevertheless, a "transmission gap" exists.

Objective

In the current pre-registered study, we investigated whether parents’ secure base script knowledge predicted their children’s secure base script knowledge and whether this association was mediated by parental sensitivity and sensitive discipline. Furthermore, we examined whether these associations were moderated by the child’s differential susceptibility.

Method

We measured the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA) in parents at the second wave and in their 9-year-old children at the sixth wave, in one cohort (N = 239 families) of the longitudinal, six wave L-CID study. We observed parental sensitivity and sensitive discipline at the third wave. We used a polygenic score and child discomfort as differential susceptibility factors in the multilevel structural equation model investigating the intergenerational transmission of attachment.

Results

Parental sensitivity, but not parental secure base script knowledge or parental sensitive discipline, predicted children’s attachment. This association was moderated by child temperamental discomfort: lower levels of parental sensitivity predicted less secure child attachment in children with higher discomfort but not in children with lower discomfort.

Conclusions

If replicated, we may conclude that the intergenerational transmission of secure base script knowledge is moderated by temperament in a way consistent with the diathesis-stress model.

Background

There is growing interest in research understanding the individual-specific predictors of child callous-unemotional (CU) traits, particularly in early childhood.

Objective

This study reviewed evidence from studies that investigated the relationship between early child temperament factors (between 0 and 3 years) and CU traits in children aged 3 to 13 years.

Methods

A systematic search conducted according to PRISMA guidelines yielded 8 peer-reviewed articles.

Results

Analysis of the included articles suggested that there was emerging evidence to support links between early temperament factors (particularly, fearlessness and social affiliation) and child CU traits.

Conclusions

The results of this review demonstrate the ongoing need for further research to clarify the temperamental profiles of children with CU traits, particularly across fearlessness, social affiliation, and general temperament dimensions.

Background

Around 800 million young children worldwide have cognitive-developmental limitations due to issues related to biological, environmental, and psychosocial factors. These problems lead to educational challenges, limited skill development, and higher unemployment rates. Therefore, timely interventions addressing the underlying problems in institutional settings are critically important.

Objective

The authors created the “Sensorimotor Training Program” (STP) as a critical intervention to develop skills essential for starting school. This experimental study aimed to investigate the impact of the STP in an institutional setting, targeting the specific auditory and visual skills crucial for kindergarten and primary school learning.

Methods

The STP comprises 120 training sessions focused on sensorimotor maturation. Seven hundred and seventy-two children aged 5–8 participated in the study, with 704 in the experimental and 68 in the control group, each containing a relatively balanced ratio of boys to girls. The study spanned six to eight months, with three to five weekly sessions.

Results

The intervention resulted in significant improvements in sensorimotor development in the experimental compared to the control group [p < .001, effect size (d) = .483; auditory skills r = .605 p < .001, d = .366; visual skills r = .542, p < .001, d = .294]. The intervention group also improved compared to its baseline measurements.

Conclusion

These results show that implementing the STP in school settings can improve sensorimotor development, impacting auditory and visual skills in children aged 5–8. These intervention-based improvements are above and beyond biological maturation.

Background

The Global Resilience Oral Workshops (GROW) Free and Strong programs take a strengths-based, positive youth development (PYD) approach to promoting thriving. Through both prevention (GROW Strong) and intervention (GROW Free) exercises, these programs aim to build character and emotional resilience while also lowering unhealthy alcohol use.

Objective

To meaningfully assess the impact of the GROW programs on health and PYD, ecologically and psychometrically valid measures of character strengths were needed, with a focus on the strengths of hope, forgiveness, spirituality, prudence, and self-control (self-regulation) promoted by GROW.

Method

We tested a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of these five key constructs using two samples: a school-based youth sample enrolled in GROW Strong (n = 460; M_age = 15.04 years, SD_age = 1.21; 53.0% female); and a community-based adult sample enrolled in GROW Free (n = 457; M_age = 20.60 years, SD_age = 1.88; 49.7% female); both enrolled using a waitlist-control design.

Results

Measures demonstrated strong invariance across specific subgroups present in the data sets, with differences emerging across ages, urban/rural locations, and baseline study conditions.

Conclusions

To meaningfully document PYD programs and character development in the majority world, measurement models must be theory-predicated, robust, and empirically validated for the specific context. The results provide evidence for such a measure that will be useful in future intervention studies promoting character strengths to address unhealthy alcohol use in Zambia.

Background

Despite the increased use of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs, empirical research is hindered by lengthy assessment options, difficult to fit into educational contexts. To cover these needs, the Social Skills Improvement System SEL Brief Scales – Student Form (SSIS SELb-S) was developed. Although it has been translated into several languages, a Portuguese version with sound psychometric properties is still missing.

Objective

This study aimed to develop the Portuguese version (SSIS SELb-Spt) and to examine its psychometric properties. METHODS: After translating the original SSIS SELb-S to Portuguese, the instrument was administered to 200 5th graders, along with self- and hetero-report measures of school well-being and involvement, peer acceptance, and academic achievement. We examined the SSIS SELb-Spt factorial validity and reliability, tested its correlations with external correlates, and examined the instruments’ predictive validity.

Results

Results supported a three-factor structure of the scale, which included the dimensions of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, and responsible decision-making. Correlations with external correlates were in the expected direction. Moreover, the scale predicted school involvement and later academic achievement.

Conclusion

This study seems to corroborate and extend previous knowledge about the validity of SSIS SELb-S, offering validity and reliability evidence on the scale’s three-factor structure.

Background

A singular ecological risk factor did not accurately reflect the reality of adolescents’ lives and could not fully elucidate the developmental mechanisms of adolescent suicidal ideation. The cumulative effect of multiple ecological risk factors (which may interact synergistically) could have provided a more comprehensive understanding of the developmental mechanism of adolescent suicidal ideation from a systemic perspective.

Objective

Based on the ecosystem theory, this study aimed to explore the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and adolescent suicidal ideation, and the moderating effect of meaning in life.

Method

A sample of 16,508 adolescents completed the Cumulative Ecological Risk Questionnaire, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and the Depressive Symptom Index Suicidality Subscale.

Results

The results showed that: (1) Cumulative ecological risk was positively correlated with suicidal ideation, and meaning in life was negatively correlated with suicidal ideation; (2) Cumulative ecological risk could predict adolescent suicidal ideation, showing an ‘exacerbation model’: wherein the already positive association between an individual risk factor and suicidal ideation was worsened by the simultaneous presence of other risks; (3) The protective effect of meaning in life on adolescent suicidal ideation decreased with the increase of cumulative ecological risk, presenting a ‘protective-reactive’ moderating model.

Conclusions

The results revealed that once the capacity of ecological risk factors exceeded the capacity of protective resources, meaning in life alone was no longer sufficient as a protective resource. Instead, it would be necessary to also intervene in ecological risks to improve individual development.

Background

Research indicates that parents’ involvement in early literacy, particularly through book reading, matters for young children’s language and literacy development. OBJECTIVE: However, little is known about the nature and extent of family book reading across the U.S. nation or about which factors support parents’ involvement in book reading. In particular, parents’ beliefs about promoting literacy may be linked to their book-reading actions, which can foster their children’s learning. 

Method

We investigated several questions using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 2011 (ECLS-K) dataset: (1) How are demographic characteristics (ethnicity, SES, and child age) predictive of parents’ literacy beliefs and home reading practices during children’s kindergarten year?; (2) How do parents’ literacy beliefs contribute to parents’ home reading practices during children’s kindergarten year?; and (3) How do parents’ literacy beliefs and home reading practices relate to children’s literacy development during their kindergarten year? We focused on data from Fall 2010 through Spring 2011, spanning the kindergarten year, and utilized descriptive and multivariate regression techniques. 

Results

Regressions reveal that parents’ literacy beliefs are linked to their literacy practices, net of the effects of a variety of covariates. In turn, both beliefs and practices are uniquely linked to increases in children’s reading performance over the kindergarten year, demonstrating incremental validity for both sets of variables and reinforcing the importance of both beliefs and practices as part of the home learning environment. 

Conclusions

The findings of this study underscore the critical role of parents’ beliefs in contributing to their home reading practices, which, in turn, are positively related to kindergarteners’ literacy development, net of the effects of variety of important covariates.

Background

Social validity in the field of applied behaviour analysis is the measurement of the social significance of goals, the social appropriateness of procedures, and the social importance of the effects of a treatment. There is a paucity of rigorous research on social validity measurement as it relates to feeding treatment.

Objective

To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review aiming to identify the gaps in and assess the current state of the science regarding comprehensive social validity measurement of paediatric feeding treatment.

Method

We conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines using four ProQuest databases.

Results

The systematic review resulted in the identification of 26 eligible articles reporting findings related to social validity post-intensive treatment or describing new measurement systems that could be used to assess social validity more comprehensively. Collectively, caregivers rated behaviour-analytic treatments high in social validity and treatments were highly effective. Caregivers reported increased broader quality of life and lasting positive impacts, decreased stress, and lack of negative effects.

Conclusion

In the context of these results, we discuss behaviour-analytic feeding treatment within social validity’s comprehensive definition. We identify additional data-based research needs in this area and provide recommendations to spur new investigations. Social validity measurement requires refinement to further inform the standard of care. Paediatric feeding expertise and competency are crucial in navigating social validity considerations. Accurate dissemination is needed to increase earlier access to effective feeding treatment for families and specialised training for professionals to promote data-based and individualised decision-making in this vital area.