Families' mealtime talk has significant implications for children's language development. This study investigated five middle-class Australian Chinese families that differ in their lifestyles and meal routines. It aims to explore: (1) the nature of the Chinese parents' language use in interactions with children at mealtime; and (2) the factors…

This study aimed to examine the unique and interactive contributions of the quality of mothers' and fathers' relationships with their toddlers to the prediction of children's subsequent executive functioning (EF). The sample included 46 low-risk middle-class families. The quality of mother-child and father-child interactions was assessed…

This study examined the relationship between aspects of maternal scaffolding and Chinese preschoolers' self-regulation. Thirty-three children aged 3-5 (12 boys and 21 girls) and their mothers from one kindergarten in Nanning, China, participated in 2 dyadic problem-solving tasks. The children's self-regulation was assessed using the tapping task…

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of age and family socioeconomic status (SES) on the evaluative language performance of Mandarin-Chinese-speaking young children and their mothers. The participants were 65 mother-child dyads recruited in Taiwan. Thirty-four of these dyads were from middle-class families and 31 were from…

This study investigated the role of gender plays in the relation between children's theory of mind (ToM) and persuasion. We explored children's use of the belief information of the characters involved within a persuasive situation. In two studies, children (four- to eight-year-olds) performed a comic strip task that described a…

Objective: Relatively few investigators have explored the role of maternal control in describing the feeding behaviour of nonwhite parents of preschool-age children. The present study was conducted to examine if controlling feeding behaviours (i.e. restriction and pressuring) varied by income (middle vs. low) and race/ethnicity (white vs.…

The study investigated how Taiwanese mothers with different socioeconomic statuses (SES) co-constructed personal experience with their children in narrative conversations. Forty dyads recruited in Taiwan participated in the study, half from middle-class families and half from the working-class. Narrative conversations in Mandarin Chinese were…

This study, conducted in 2004, investigated the direct effect of interparental conflict (IPC) about child-raising issues on the social skills of middle-class US children who attended a suburban preschool and the buffering effect of teacher support (n = 170). Findings indicated that greater IPC was associated with poorer child social skills. The…

This study examined the relationship between attention problems and expressive language and academic readiness skills in preschool-aged children from middle-class families. Forty-three children (44% female) were assessed individually for expressive language skills and knowledge of basic academic concepts (e.g. colours, letters and numbers). The…

In this study we adapted DeBaryshe and Binder's Parent Reading Belief Inventory (PRBI) with middle-class, well-educated (M = 14-15 years of education) Taiwanese mothers to find what their beliefs were about reading aloud to young children. Parental reports of home literacy practices including children's emergent literacy behaviours were also…

Compares differences in parental role perceptions of white middle class four year olds cared for in day care centers and at home. Results revealed significant differences in the peceptions of both mothers and fathers of day care and home care children as well as sex differences among the children. (DST)

Compared peer social interaction of 159 low socioeconomic status (SES), Head Start preschoolers and 91 middle SES private preschoolers. Although low SES children had more initiations and responses than did middle SES children, they also had more difficulty in responding appropriately and had more negative than positive responses. (DE)

Interviews with eight families showed that literacy materials and goals for using literacy differed between middle and working class families, with middle class families drawing on more resources to learn about the child's classroom. However, all families expressed value for literacy activities, challenging the myth that working-class families do…

Examines the effects of socialization on the size of Yoruba children's drawings of a man and a woman through use of the Draw a Person test. Findings support the prediction that male figures were drawn relatively larger than female figures only in the low income group, reflecting the gender inequality that appears typical of the Yoruba social…