This article provides a literature review on the consequences of adolescent childbearing on postnatal infant development. (DB)

Analysis of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data on 5,477 girls attending mixed-sex secondary schools found that early puberty and physical development that was advanced relative to age were related most strongly to "party" deviance (drinking, smoking, disorderly conduct), but also to minor and serious delinquency.…

The development of an experimental measure for assessing growth in movement in children (ages birth-3) is described. Results from the use of the Movement General Outcome Measurement with 29 infants and toddlers demonstrated the feasibility of the measure. The 6-minute assessment was found reliable in terms of inter-observer agreement. (Contains…

Presents an account of observations, descriptions, and interpretations of children's representations. Offers examples of ways teachers and parents can help children expand their language, actions, and images to symbolize their experiences. (BB)

At 3 years of age, children who had received food supplementation were an average of 2.6 cm and 642 grams larger than controls. Home visiting and supplementation combined reduced the number of children with severe growth retardation. Participants were 280 infants and their families from poor neighborhoods in Bogota, Colombia. (RH)

Around the world, the singing of lullabies and reciting of nursery rhymes foster children's development and show parents' love for their infants and young children. (BB)

Assessed Australian girls' (n=87) beliefs and feelings about menarche and menstruation. Results revealed limited knowledge about menstruation, accompanied by incorrect and negative myths. Attitudes to menstruation were characterized by embarrassment, discomfort, and ambivalence about growing up. Themes in story completion results reflected these…

Compared 14 healthy children who had low birthweight and were small for their gestational age with 14 control children at 10 years of age. The experimental group scored lower than control children on measures of visuospatial ability, nonverbal reasoning, strategy formation, and gross motor coordination. (BC)

Physical development should be classified using a multidimensional hierarchical model. Optimal physical development combines physical fitness and skill development. The paper discusses the history of physical fitness, hierarchical nature of fitness, and specificity of fitness, stressing the need for collaboration in facilitating optimal…

Studied influence of parental attitudes about childrearing on the development of 4-year-olds' perception of self-competence. Found parental attitudes of understanding and acceptance were significant predictors of peer acceptance and physical competence. Findings highlighted importance of parents' realistic understanding and expectations of…

Notes that children born shortly before the cutoff date for age grouping in youth sports suffer from being promoted to higher age groups earlier than later-born peers. Identifies physical and psychological mechanisms that may be responsible for the effect. Discusses negative consequences on personal development and possible remedies, and…

This article can help teachers and directors become eloquent and effective advocates of play-based early learning environments. It defines play and play policy and discusses distinct research areas that support play policy and practice for physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development within diverse early childhood settings. Also…

In this article, the author talks about the importance of competence and how to be competent. Feeling competent is pretty important to a person in the places where he lives and works. Competence is also important to kids. That sense of "I can do it" fuels the child's drive to explore and succeed well. However, competence is always a moving target…

Results of national studies suggest that for girls, the middle grades can be a time of significant decline in self-esteem and academic achievement. Reasons for this decline are not clearly indicated by research, but it is likely that multiple factors are involved. One factor is the preferential treatment boys receive in the classroom.…

The U.S. National Education Goals were enacted into federal law in 1994 as the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act." The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin is addressing the first of these goals, which states that by the year 2000 all children will enter school ready to learn. This paper…