In this paper we present a cross-cultural study of toddler interactions with other juveniles (1-15 years of age) in two small-scale societies, the Bofi farmers and foragers of Central Africa. This paper provides a unique perspective because child development studies have predominantly been conducted in Western industrialized settings. Most studies…

The purpose of this study was to explore young children's understandings about their peers with disabilities as manifested in their daily interactions in classroom and school routines. Using an ecological perspective, children's expressed views about their peers with disabilities were also explored, to examine how these understandings are situated…

Concern about physical inactivity among U.S. youth has been mounting in recent years, in light of studies suggesting that few adolescents (about one out of three) engage in recommended levels of physical activity. Although much attention has been paid to individual factors that may contribute to this problem, such as television viewing and…

Given recent trends, middle-class families may become an increasing presence in urban districts. Such parents could help secure badly needed resources and raise expectations. This study of parental involvement in two urban schools suggests that middle-class parental involvement may be more complex than often assumed. The authors find that…

This study draws upon an ecological perspective to examine parental involvement in homework and its relationship with primary school children's educational outcomes within the Chinese sociocultural context of Hong Kong. Data were collected using homework diaries and questionnaires administered to 1,309 pairs of students and parents spanning all…

Using data from in-depth interviews with 20 children, this study finds that children with parents suffering from mental health distress struggle hard to present themselves as "normal" and equal among their peer group. The study shows how they avoid stigma in their presentation of self in everyday life. All the children in this study,…

The consequences of the early onset of substance use on later outcomes are a public health concern. In the present study, we examined neighborhood risk factors as a possible predictor of the onset of substance use in adolescents. In addition, we assessed the potential buffering effects of parental supervision on the relationship between…

This article examines how migrant parents' gender affects transnational families' economic well-being. Drawing on 130 in-depth interviews with Salvadoran immigrants in the United States and adolescent and young adult children of migrants in El Salvador, I demonstrate that the gender of migrant parents centrally affects how well their families are…

The polarized political mood engendered by the most sharply partisan Presidential election campaigns in recent memory has had an especially deleterious effect on the image of public education. This increased scrutiny has largely fallen on the shoulders of rank and file teachers who now face the most precarious moment in terms of job security since…

This study examined the mediation effect of cognitive appraisals and the moderation role of peer status in the association between interparental conflict and adolescents' affective well-being based on a sample of 549 Chinese adolescents from 7th to 12th grades. Interparental conflict properties, adolescents' cognitive appraisals of conflict,…

Objective: To explore intergenerational health habits and compare differences between urban and rural families. Methods: A total of 2500 families with children ages 6-18 in China were surveyed regarding their health habits. Results: Urban families reported significantly greater food variety and more time exercising (for fathers and children) than…

Parents of 50 4th grade girls reported on their marital relationships and then, two years later, rated their daughters' pubertal development. Fathers' ratings of marital dissatisfaction, mothers' ratings of less emotional support from husbands, and both parents' ratings of aversive marital conflict were correlated with more advanced pubertal…

Much of the evidence from the West has shown links between children's developing self-control (executive function), their social experiences, and their social understanding (Carpendale & Lewis, 2006, chapters 5 and 6), across a range of cultures including China. This chapter describes four studies conducted in three Oriental cultures,…

Background: Psychopathology in youth appears to be linked to deficits in regulating affective responses to stressful situations. In children, high-quality parental support facilitates affect regulation. However, in adolescence, the role of parent-child interaction in the regulation of affect is unclear. This study examined physiological reactivity…

Children with incarcerated mothers are at high risk for developing problem behaviors. Fifty children (6-12 years; 62% girls) participated in summer camps, along with adult mentors. Regression analyses of child and adult measures of child's emotion self-regulation and callous-unemotional traits, and a child measure of moral emotions, showed that…