Preference for tap, bottled, and recycled water: Relations to PTC taste sensitivity and personality.

This study investigated people's preferences for different water sources and factors that predict such preferences using a blind taste test. Water preferences of 143 participants for one name-brand bottled water, one groundwater-sourced tap water, and one indirect potable reuse (IDR) water were assessed. For predictors of water preference, we measured each participant's PTC taste sensitivity and assessed two personality traits (Neuroticism, Openness to Experience). We also explored participants' descriptions of each water source. Results indicate a preference for water treated with Reverse Osmosis (RO) (bottled and IDR water) over groundwater-sourced water, which had higher pH levels and lower concentrations of Ca and HCO3-. PTC taste sensitivity did not predict preferences, while Openness to Experience and Neuroticism predicted preference for IDR water. Positive relations between Openness to Experience and preferences for bottled and IDR water were moderated by gender and were stronger among females. Participants described water primarily by its taste and texture. Findings suggest that (1) tap water treated by RO is equally preferable to some bottled water, (2) personality traits may affect water preferences, and (3) prior findings of gender differences in preferences for bottled water may reflect personality characteristics. Efforts to increase acceptance for sustainable water alternatives, such as IDR, may be more successful by assuring consumers about taste and addressing personality traits that encourage or inhibit use.

Stability and change in mother-child planning over middle childhood.

This longitudinal research examines maternal and child behaviors during joint planning over a 3-year period of middle childhood. 118 mother-child dyads were observed once a year beginning when the children were 8 years of age. Coding focused on mother and child planning behaviors, maternal instructional support, and child task engagement. Multilevel modeling was used to compare 3 models of stability and change: stability, normative developmental change, and individual differences in change. Results indicate that normative developmental change was the best predictor of mother and child planning behaviors and maternal guidance. Individual differences in rate of change predicted mothers' instructional support in the use of physical demonstration and child engagement measured by attention, task responsibility, and cooperation. Task difficulty contributed to these patterns. This research advances understanding of social interaction on cognitive tasks for partners in an established relationship. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Exposure to open-fire cooking and cognitive performance in children.

We reexamined field data on cognitive performance in light of recent research that shows open-fire cooking--with its emission of harmful substances--to pose a risk to healthy physical development. Tests of three- to nine-year-old children in four communities around the world yielded evidence concerning block-building skills, memory, and the discernment of embedded figures. Naturalistic observations of these children were also undertaken in everyday settings. Open-fire cooking (as opposed to cooking on kerosene stoves) was associated with both lower cognitive performance and less frequent structured play at all ages. Although these correlational results do not reveal causal mechanisms, they are consistent with ideas about negative developmental consequences of exposure to open-fire cooking and suggest that research is needed on the effect on brain development of practices involving production of indoor smoke.

Contributions of societal modernity to cognitive development: a comparison of four cultures.

This study examined how societal changes associated with modernization are related to cognitive development. Data were from 4 cultural communities that represented a broad range of traditional and modern elements: the Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa). Naturalistic observations and the performances of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children (N = 192) on 7 cognitive measures were examined. Results replicated age-related improvement on all measures. Contributions of modernity were evident in children's play behaviors and cognitive performances, especially in skills related to schooling. Modernization and schooling independently predicted differences on most of the measures. Results are discussed in relation to the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase in cognitive scores across generations, and the ways in which societal modernization may contribute to cognitive development.

Mother-child planning, child emotional functioning, and children's transition to first grade.

Mother-child planning was examined in relation to child emotional functioning and first-grade school performance. Ninety dyads were randomly assigned to the explicit-goal condition (emphasized accuracy and preparation for a child-only posttest) or the no-explicit-goal condition (dyads just asked to work together). In the no-explicit-goal condition only, children higher in negative emotionality and lower in regulation skills were less engaged in the task and planned less effectively. Both mother-child planning and adaptive child emotional functioning were positively associated with school performance. Results suggest that child emotional functioning mediated associations between planning and school performance. Implications of these findings for the development of planning and children's transition to school are discussed.

Mother-child planning and child compliance.

This study investigated child compliance and maternal instruction during planning. Based on the Child Behavior Checklist and free-play observations, 40 mothers and their 4- to 5-year-old children were assigned to a group with children who behaved within the normal range of compliance (n = 20) or a group with children with high rates of noncompliance for this age (n = 20). Mothers in the noncompliant group provided more low-level, directive, and negative instruction; requested more compliance; and shared less task responsibility with children. Mothers in both groups responded to child compliance by increasing or maintaining the level of instruction. Results are discussed in relation to the role of child compliance in regulating opportunities for cognitive development in social context.

Parent-child participation in planning children's activities outside of school in European American and Latino families.

This longitudinal research used a sociocultural perspective to examine planning competence in the everyday experiences of European American and Latino children from 7 to 9 years of age. Data on children's participation in planning their activities outside of school, parental expectations about children's planning competence, and children's planning in the classroom were collected yearly from Grades 2 to 4 from 140 children and their mothers, and the children's teachers. Results indicate that decision-making practices and parental expectations change with development and vary by ethnicity. Decision making at home was related to children's classroom planning; however, the nature of these relations changed over middle childhood. Results are discussed in terms of cultural and parental contributions to the development of planning skills.

Instruction by mothers and fathers during problem solving with their young children.

Mothers and fathers of 163 5-year-olds were observed interacting with their children in dyads on 2 separate occasions on a familiar and unfamiliar cognitive activity. Within- and between-family comparisons were conducted. Few differences in the instruction provided by mothers and fathers appeared, and those that did were on the unfamiliar task. On this task, instruction by mothers, within and across families, was more responsive to children's changing skill than was instruction by fathers. Directive and disapproving comments by parents were related to poorer posttest performance by the child. High level of instruction by both parents was related to better posttest performance than was low level of instruction by parents. Contributions of parents to their children's cognitive development are discussed.