Data from 508 Caucasian children in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development shows that the DRD4 (but not 5-HTTLPR) polymorphism moderates the effect of child-care quality (but not quantity or type) on caregiver-reported externalizing problems at 54 months and in kindergarten and teacher-reported social skills at kindergarten and…

The activation relationship theory, primarily focused on parental stimulation of risk-taking along with parental control during exploration, predicts that boys will be activated more than girls by their fathers. This theory may explain why fathers engage in rough-and-tumble play (RTP) with children more frequently than mothers, especially with…

Medical contexts provide a rich opportunity to study important theoretical questions in cognitive development and to investigate the influence of a range of interacting factors relating to the child, the experience, and the broader social context on children's cognition. In the context of examples of research investigating these issues, we…

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are pervasive neurodevelopmental disorders that affect an estimated 1 in 110 individuals. Although there is a strong genetic component associated with these disorders, this review focuses on the multifactorial nature of ASD and how different genome-wide (genomic) approaches contribute to our understanding of autism.…

The link between emotion regulation and academic achievement is well documented. Less is known about specific emotion regulation strategies that promote learning. Six- to 13-year-olds ("N" = 126) viewed a sad film and were instructed to reappraise the importance, reappraise the outcome, or ruminate about the sad events; another group…

“Let’s do it again,” shout the children as they complete an activity in music class. A casual observer would be aware that the children are fully engaged but may not be sure of the lesson focus. Is it to help children learn a new orchestra piece? To teach about the beat? To teach form? To teach rhythm? To teach children to read a music score? To…

The purpose of this grounded theory qualitative study was to identify teacher perceptions within the classroom of preschool violence and what, if any were the perceived associations between teacher perceptions and the problem of school violence up to and including incarceration in later years. The study included open interview questions for data…

U.S. schools teach predominately to the analytical, left-brain, which has foundations in behaviorism, and uses a mechanistic paradigm that influences epistemic beliefs of how learning takes place. This result is that learning is impeded. Using discourse analysis of a set of Piagetian children, this study re-analyzed Piaget's work. This study found…

Research suggests that a child's earliest interactions with parents and guardians have a profound effect on later social and educational development. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore perceptions of parents of children with diagnosed reading disabilities to better understand how the early home literacy environment may…

This article is an excerpt from "Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis" (2011), by Sandra Steingraber. As a scientist, mother, and concerned citizen, Steingraber explores herein the damaging effects of the myriad and ubiquitous environmental pollutants--in homes, schools, and communities--on the lives…

While the prevalence of autism has been increasing globally, there is a search for the causative factors behind the rise. The point of view presented here examines the possibility of children brought up in social deprivation and watching television being at higher risk for developing autistic symptoms. The association is evident in the clinical…

Middle childhood may be crucial for the development of metacognitive monitoring and study control processes. The first three experiments, using different materials, showed that Grade 3 and Grade 5 children exhibited excellent metacognitive resolution when asked to make delayed judgments of learning (JOLs, using an analogue scale) or binary…

Many researchers have attempted to uncover the precise contribution of fathers to childrearing in relation to both young and older children's development during the past five decades (Lamb, 1975), including during the infancy period (Parke & O'Leary. S, 1975). However, few have been able to isolate precise mechanisms by which specific types of…

Clinical research during the pregnancy period is maximally beneficial for participants if it is positive, inclusive, and therapeutic. We describe our ongoing study of ethnically diverse, low-income pregnant women and fathers-to-be that leverages participants' benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) and promotes insight to counteract mental health…

When the Annie E. Casey Foundation published its first "KIDS COUNT Data Book" in 1990, there were 64 million children in America. Now, almost three decades later, there are close to 74 million. This 30th edition of the "Data Book" examines how America's child population has changed, demographically and geographically. The…