How weird is the development of children's gratitude in the United States? Cross-cultural comparisons.

Our interest is in the development of gratitude as a moral virtue, and its variability across different cultural contexts. Given psychology's overreliance on samples collected from the United Sates, Western Europe, and Australasia, we contrasted patterns of age-related expressions of gratitude among a sample of U.S. 7- to 14-year-old children with those from same-age samples from Brazil, China, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey (N = 2,540, 54.7% female, Mage = 10.61 years). The U.S. sample was diverse (n = 730: Black 26.4%, White 40.4%, Latinx 19.9%, Asian 3.8%, Other 1.6%, Missing 7.0%; 55.7% female, Mage = 10.52 years). The remaining samples were largely homogeneous by ethnicity. Our data were gathered using one quantitative scale to measure variations in the extent of gratitude that children expressed, and one qualitative measure to assess variability in the types of gratitude expressed by children of different ages. Both measures were chosen for their fit with the definition of virtuous gratitude. Hypotheses that the U.S. sample would differ from the others in extent and type of gratitude were largely supported. However, age-related differences in the type of gratitude expressed were similar across societies (e.g., in most samples older children were less likely to express concrete gratitude and more likely to express connective gratitude). Our results reveal the importance of treating gratitude as a virtue that develops during childhood and that is influenced by one's cultural group. Reliance on samples from a limited set of cultures is thus to be avoided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of North Carolina's Pre-Kindergarten Program at the End of Kindergarten: Contributions of School-Wide Quality.

The positive effects of pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programming may be enhanced in later grades for children who subsequently experience high-quality educational environments in elementary school. The current study tested this hypothesis in relation to the effects of North Carolina's NC Pre-K program on child outcomes at the end of kindergarten, including language, literacy, mathematics, and working memory. Measures of elementary school quality were examined as moderators of the NC Pre-K effects, including school-wide academic proficiency and school-wide growth in academic achievement. We found no reliable effects of NC Pre-K participation for children attending elementary schools with average levels of quality. However, the positive effects of NC Pre-K participation on language and working memory skills were evident for children attending elementary schools with higher levels of academic proficiency and academic growth, respectively. No evidence of moderation was found in relation to literacy and mathematics skills.

Neonatal Cranial Ultrasound Findings among Infants Born Extremely Preterm: Associations with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 10 Years of Age.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between neonatal cranial ultrasound (CUS) abnormalities among infants born extremely preterm and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 10 years of age. STUDY DESIGN: In a multicenter birth cohort of infants born at <28 weeks of gestation, 889 of 1198 survivors were evaluated for neurologic, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes at 10 years of age. Sonographic markers of white matter damage (WMD) included echolucencies in the brain parenchyma and moderate to severe ventricular enlargement. Neonatal CUS findings were classified as intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) without WMD, IVH with WMD, WMD without IVH, and neither IVH nor WMD. RESULTS: WMD without IVH was associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.7, 7.4), cerebral palsy (OR 14.3, 95% CI 6.5, 31.5), and epilepsy (OR 6.9; 95% CI 2.9, 16.8). Similar associations were found for WMD accompanied by IVH. Isolated IVH was not significantly associated these outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Among children born extremely preterm, CUS abnormalities, particularly those indicative of WMD, are predictive of neurodevelopmental impairments at 10 years of age. The strongest associations were found with cerebral palsy.

Evidence of Epstein-Barr virus heterogeneous gene expression in adult lung transplant recipients with posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-driven posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a serious complication following lung transplant. The extent to which the presence of EBV in PTLD tissue is associated with survival is uncertain. Moreover, whether the heterogeneity in expression of EBV latency programs is related to the timing of PTLD onset remains unexplored. We retrospectively performed a comprehensive histological evaluation of EBV markers at the tissue level in 34 adult lung transplant recipients with early- and late-onset PTLD. Early-onset PTLD, occurring within the first 12 months posttransplant, had higher odds to express EBV markers. The presence of EBV in PTLD was not associated with a difference in survival relative to EBV-negative tumors. However, we found evidence of heterogeneous expression of EBV latency programs, including type III, IIb, IIa, and 0/I. Our study suggests that the heterogeneous expression of EBV latency programs may represent a mechanism for immune evasion in patients with PLTD after lung transplants. The recognition of multiple EBV latency programs can be used in personalized medicine in patients who are nonresponsive to traditional types of chemotherapy and can be potentially evaluated in other types of solid organ transplants.

Anxiety and Depression Correlates at Age 10 in Children Born Extremely Preterm.

Objective Anxiety and depression rates are known to be elevated in prematurely-born children and adolescents. This prospective study examines demographic, academic, and physical health correlates of anxiety and depression symptoms in a sample of 10-year-old children who were born extremely preterm. Methods Participants were 889 (51.2% male; 62.3% White) children who were born <28 weeks gestation. Child and family demographic data were collected at birth. When the children were 10, parents (n = 871) and teachers (n = 640) rated the level of anxiety and depression in children through the Child Symptom Inventory-4. Child academic functioning was assessed via the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-III. Parents completed questionnaires about child academic functioning and physical health issues. Data analyses were conducted with multivariate linear modeling. Results Level of prematurity was significantly related to both parent and teacher reports of anxiety. Public health insurance and individualized education program (IEP) status were associated with both parent and teacher reports of depression. Hispanic ethnicity, public insurance, IEP status, and asthma were significantly associated with both parent-reported anxiety and depression. Gross motor impairment was associated with parent-reported anxiety and teacher-reported depression. Child obesity was associated with teacher reports of anxiety, while male sex was significantly related to teacher reports of depression. Conclusion This pattern of findings may suggest hypotheses for future research on models of the development and persistence of anxiety and depression within this particularly vulnerable group of children.

Psychiatric Symptoms: Prevalence, Co-occurrence, and Functioning Among Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns at Age 10 Years.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the percentage of children born extremely preterm (EP) who screen positive for ≥1 DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, the co-occurrence of and sex-related differences in these classifications, and the functional correlates of psychiatric symptoms. METHODS: The Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn (ELGAN) Study is a prospective cohort follow-up of children born <28 weeks' gestation. For 871 10-year-old children, parents completed the Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4), a child educational/medical history questionnaire, and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). RESULTS: At age 10 years, ELGANs were more likely to screen positive for a number of psychiatric disorders when compared with normative expectations on the CSI-4, with a few sex-related differences. Fifteen percent of participants screened positive for 1 disorder, 7% for 2, 3% for 3, and 4% for ≥4 psychiatric disorders. Compared with children who did not screen positive for psychiatric disorders, children who screened positive for ≥3 psychiatric disorders were approximately twice as likely to have repeated a grade, have an individualized educational program, have an individual school aide, and to require special remediation classes. Children who screened positive for any psychiatric disorder were 4 times more likely to use 1 or more psychotropic medication, and those who screened positive for ≥2 psychiatric disorders had lower PedsQL scores. CONCLUSION: Among 10-year-old children born EP, rates of psychiatric symptoms exceeded normative expectation, and children who screened positive for more than 1 psychiatric disorder were at increased risk of having multiple functional impairments.

Early student (dis)engagement: Contributions of household chaos, parenting, and self-regulatory skills.

Previous studies suggest that the roots of school dropout (a) can be established early in life, (b) are likely to involve multilevel factors (home, child, classroom) operating prior to and during the elementary school years, and (c) can be identified by 3rd grade. The decision to drop out of school is thus a dynamic developmental process that can begin with disengagement in elementary school. Yet few studies have examined the multilevel factors that might contribute to children's early disengagement from school. In the present study, we examined associations between household chaos (i.e., disorganization and instability) from birth to age 5 and student (dis)engagement in third grade. We also examined positive parenting in early childhood (6-60 months) and child self-regulatory skills at kindergarten as potential mediators in this pathway. Participants were 1,097 children who participated in the Family Life Project, a longitudinal study of the development of children living in underresourced high poverty rural areas. Study questions were addressed using structural equation models. Results indicated that, even after taking into account a considerable number of covariates, early positive parenting and children's self-regulatory skills were viable process mechanisms through which early household disorganization, but not instability, was linked to student (dis)engagement in third grade. Findings are discussed with respect to the multilevel proximal forces at play in children's risk for early disengagement from school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Raising Grateful Children One Day at a Time.

The current study examined micro-developmental processes related to the socialization of children's gratitude. Specifically, we tested whether parents who engage in more frequent daily socialization practices targeting children's gratitude reported more frequent displays of gratitude by their children after controlling for potential confounds (i.e., parents' own gratitude, sensitive parenting, and children's socio-emotional functioning). The sample of 101 parent-child dyads completed a baseline lab visit followed by a seven-day diary study. Using multi-level modeling, we found that parents who engaged in more frequent gratitude socialization acts (versus parents with fewer socialization acts) reported more frequent displays of gratitude by their children across the seven-day period (a between-dyad effect). We also found that on days when a parent engaged in more socialization acts than usual (versus days when that parent engaged in fewer acts than usual) parents reported relative increases in gratitude displays by their children (a within-dyad effect). These findings show that parent socialization acts are associated with children's displayed gratitude and point to the need for future work to explore reactive and proactive parent-child interactions that may underlie these associations as well as associations between micro-developmental and macro-developmental processes.

Rural Families' Use of Multiple Child Care Arrangements from 6 to 58 Months and Children's Kindergarten Behavioral and Academic Outcomes.

Non-parental child care prior to kindergarten is a normative experience for the majority of children in the United States, with children commonly experiencing multiple arrangements, or more than one concurrent child care arrangement. The experience of multiple arrangements has predominantly been shown to be negatively related to young children's health and behavioral outcomes. The present study examined the use of multiple concurrent arrangements for children in the Family Life Project, a representative sample of families living in six high-poverty rural counties. Using the full sample of 1,292 children who were followed from six months to kindergarten, this study examined the associations between the number of child care arrangements averaged across six time points and children's behavioral and academic outcomes in kindergarten. After including a number of control variables, regression results suggested that a greater number of arrangements prior to kindergarten were related to higher levels of teacher-reported negative behaviors, but not positive behaviors, and letter-word decoding skills, but not mathematics skills, though effect sizes were small. Moderation analyses by child care type and quality were conducted, with no evidence emerging that findings varied by type or quality of care.

Grateful parents raising grateful children: Niche selection and the socialization of child gratitude.

Given that children's exposure to gratitude-related activities may be one way that parents can socialize gratitude in their children, we examined whether parents' niche selection (i.e., tendency to choose perceived gratitude-inducing activities for their children) mediates the association between parents' reports of their own and their children's gratitude. Parent-child dyads (N =101; children aged 6-9; 52% girls; 80% Caucasian; 85% mothers) participated in a laboratory visit and parents also completed a seven-day online diary regarding children's gratitude. Decomposing specific indirect effects within a structural equation model, we found that parents high in gratitude were more likely to set goals to use niche selection as a gratitude socialization strategy, and thereby more likely to place their children in gratitude-related activities. Placement in these activities, in turn, was associated with more frequent expression of gratitude in children. We describe future directions for research on parents' role in socializing gratitude in their children.

The role of household chaos in understanding relations between early poverty and children's academic achievement.

The following prospective longitudinal study used an epidemiological sample (N = 1,236) to consider the potential mediating role of early cumulative household chaos (6-58 months) on associations between early family income poverty (6 months) and children's academic achievement in kindergarten. Two dimensions of household chaos, disorganization and instability, were examined as mediators. Results revealed that, in the presence of household disorganization (but not instability) and relevant covariates, income poverty was no longer directly related to academic achievement. Income poverty was, however, positively related to household disorganization, which was, in turn, associated with lower academic achievement. Study results are consistent with previous research indicating that household chaos conveys some of the adverse longitudinal effects of income poverty on children's outcomes and extend previous findings specifically to academic achievement in early childhood.

Classroom Quality at Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten and Children's Social Skills and Behavior Problems.

Focusing on the continuity in the quality of classroom environments as children transition from preschool into elementary school, this study examined the associations between classroom quality in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and children's social skills and behavior problems in kindergarten and first grade. Participants included 1175 ethnically-diverse children (43% African American) living in low-wealth rural communities of the US. Results indicated that children who experienced higher levels of emotional and organizational classroom quality in both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten demonstrated better social skills and fewer behavior problems in both kindergarten and first grade comparing to children who did not experience higher classroom quality. The examination of the first grade results indicated that the emotional and organizational quality of pre-kindergarten classrooms was the strongest predictor of children's first grade social skills and behavior problems. The study results are discussed from theoretical, practical, and policy perspectives.

The wishes and expression of gratitude of youth / Os desejos e a expressão de gratidão dos jovens / Los deseos y la expresión de la gratitud en los jóvenes

Little research has examined the development of gratitude in youth, and none has related their gratitude to their wishes. We therefore asked 358 7- to 14-year-old North American participants (56% female; 55% White) to write their greatest wish and what they would do for their benefactor. Using chi-square and linear curve estimation, we found that younger youth (aged 7 to 10) were significantly more likely to express hedonistic wishes (desire for immediate gain) and concrete gratitude (not taking the benefactor's wishes into account); older youth (aged 11 to 14) were significantly more likely to wish either for something involving future well-being for themselves or the well-being of others and connective gratitude (taking into account the benefactor's wishes). Within both age groups, there was a significant inverse relation between hedonistic wishes and connective gratitude. This research has implications for encouraging the feeling and expression of connective gratitude.

Poucos estudos examinaram o desenvolvimento da gratidão em jovens, e nenhum estabeleceu relações entre sua gratidão e seus desejos. Assim, solicitamos a 358 participantes norte-americanos entre 7 e 14 anos de idade (56% meninas; 55% brancos) que escrevessem qual seria o seu maior desejo e o que eles fariam a seu benfeitor. Utilizando qui quadrado e estimativa de curva linear, encontramos que os mais jovens (de 7 a 10 anos de idade) foram significativamente mais propensos a expressar desejos hedonistas (desejo por ganho imediato) e gratidão concreta (não considerando os desejos do benfeitor); os jovens mais velhos (de 11 a 14 anos de idade) foram significativamente mais propensos a desejar seja algo envolvendo bem-estar futuro para si mesmos seja o bem-estar de outros e gratidão conectiva (levando em conta os desejos do benfeitor).Em ambos os grupos etários, houve uma relação inversa significativa entre desejos hedonistas e gratidão conectiva.Esta pesquisa tem implicações para encorajar o sentimento e a expressão de gratidão conectiva.

Pocos estudios han examinado el desarrollo de gratitud en los jóvenes, y ninguno ha relacionado su gratitud a sus deseos. Por lo tanto, pedimos a 358 participantes de América del Norte de 7 a 14 años de edad (55% femenino, 55% blanco) a escribir su mayor deseo y lo que harían por su benefactor. Utilizando un distribución ji-cuadrado y estimación curva lineal, encontramos que los más jóvenes (de 7 a 10 años de edad) fueron significativamente más propensos a expresar los deseos hedonistas (deseo de ganancia inmediata) y la gratitud de concreto (no tomar los deseos del benefactor en cuenta); los jóvenes mayores (de 11 a 14 años de edad) fueron significativamente más propensos a desear sea para algo relacionado con el bienestar futuro para sí mismos o para el bienestar de los demás y gratitud conectivo (tomando en cuenta los deseos del benefactor). Dentro de ambos grupos de edad, existe una relación inversa significativa entre los deseos hedonistas y gratitud conectivo. Esta investigación tiene implicaciones para fomentar el sentimiento y la expresión de gratitud conectivo.

Family Social Status and Preschoolers' Persistence: The Role of Maternal Values and Quality of Parenting.

Children who develop persistence in the preschool years are likely to function more effectively during the transition into school. In this study of 231 3-year-old children and their mothers, we examined the relations among family social status, maternal values of self-direction, and quality of parenting and children's persistence in challenging tasks. Results of SEM path analysis indicated that family social status was related to maternal values of self-direction, which in turn were associated with the quality of maternal cognitive stimulation and emotional support and child persistence at preschool-age. Family social status and maternal values were indirectly related to child persistence through emotional support. Focusing on parental values of self-direction and provision of support during challenging tasks may help to reduce the gap in school success between children from lower and higher social status families.

Parental ADHD Symptomology and Ineffective Parenting: The Connecting Link of Home Chaos.

SYNOPSIS: OBJECTIVE: This study examines links between maternal and paternal ADHD symptoms and parenting practices that require inhibition of impulses, sustained attention, and consistency; the role of home chaos in these associations is also assessed. DESIGN: ADHD symptoms, the level of home chaos, and parenting practices (involvement, inconsistent discipline, supportive and non-supportive responses to children's negative emotions, and positive parenting) were assessed through self-reports of 311 mothers and 149 fathers of middle-childhood children. Child ADHD symptoms were assessed by teachers. RESULTS: Mothers reported higher home chaos when they or their children had higher levels of ADHD symptoms; for fathers, only their own ADHD symptoms predicted higher levels of home chaos. Mothers' ADHD symptoms were positively associated with inconsistent discipline and non-supportive responses to children's negative emotions, and these associations were mediated by home chaos. Higher levels of fathers' ADHD symptoms predicted more inconsistent discipline, low involvement, and a low level of supportive and a high level of non-supportive responses to children's negative emotions. Home chaos moderated the link between paternal ADHD and inconsistent discipline and mediated the link between paternal ADHD and involvement. Overall, positive aspects of parenting, and those that require attention and ability to control one's impulses, may be compromised in fathers with high levels of ADHD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Effectiveness of specific parenting practices for both mothers and fathers may be compromised in parents with ADHD symptoms. In certain cases, parental ADHD symptoms translate into ineffective parenting through disorganized homes.