Parenting styles, empathy and aggressive behavior in preschool children: an examination of mediating mechanisms.

Introduction: This study examined the interplay between parenting styles, empathy, and aggressive behavior in Chinese preschool children aged 3-5 years. Methods: Data were collected from 87 participants using the Child Behavior Checklist, Children's Empathy Quotient, and Parenting Style Questionnaire, and were subsequently analyzed. Results: The findings revealed significant age and gender differences in empathy, but not in parenting styles or aggressive behavior. Additionally, a substantial correlation was identified between authoritarian parenting style and aggressive behavior, as well as between children's empathy levels and aggressive behavior. This indicates that empathy may act as a mediator between parenting style and aggressive behavior. Discussion: Our findings suggest that an authoritarian parenting style influences aggressive behavior both directly and indirectly through its effect on children's empathy. These results point toward the possibility that an authoritarian parenting style may stifle the development of empathy in preschool children, subsequently heightening their aggressive behavior.

Longitudinal development of children's sharing behaviour: Only children versus children with siblings from rural China.

This study examined the development of children's sharing behaviour towards friends and strangers using dictator games with a longitudinal design in a sample of rural Chinese children (n = 589, 47.0% girls) at 3-4 years old and 2 years later (n = 453, 44.2% girls). Results showed that the willingness to share and the amount of sharing changed over time and were affected by family structure. Only children shared fewer stickers than non-only children at ages 3-4, but the amount they shared did not differ at ages 5-6. Only children may develop reciprocal friendships at an older age due to their lack of experience with siblings. Children shared more stickers with friends than strangers at ages 3-4, and such ingroup bias became stronger at ages 5-6.

Nutritional status in patients of mandibular osteoradionecrosis: A single-institution experience.

BACKGROUND: Mandibular osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is a devastating complication secondary to the radiotherapy of head and neck cancer. The nutritional status of ORN patients is compromised, but remains rarely studied. We aimed to evaluate the overall nutritional status of patients with ORN and explore the risk factors behind poor nutrition. METHODS: This is a single-institution cross-sectional study. Patients diagnosed with ORN were consecutively recruited in a tertiary teaching hospital from July 2017 to August 2019. Multiple laboratory markers and physical indicators were examined to profile their nutritional status. The potential risk factors of poor nutrition were explored by logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 107 patients with ORN were recruited. Among them, almost all patients (95.3%) had at least one laboratory marker lower than the normal physiological range. A total of 40 (37.5%) patients were categorized as undernutrition, who had lower serum albumin (mean difference: 1.8 ± 0.8 g/L; p = .02), prealbumin (mean difference: 26.8 ± 10.8 mg/L; p = .02), and BMI (3.8 ± 0.4 kg/m2 ; p < .0001) compared to patients of normal nutrition. Notably, the multivariate logistic regression indicated that patients with semi-liquid diet had 14.41 (95% CI: 3.03-68.54, p = .001) times; patients with liquid diet had 5.70 (95% CI: 1.55-20.98, p = .009) times more likely to be in undernutrition, as compared to patients with regular diets. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study characterizing the poor nutritional status in ORN patients. Patients having semi-liquid or liquid diets tended to have poorer nutritional status. The nutritional status of ORN patients should be underlined for professional nutritional supports so as to enhance their quality of life. More studies are warranted.

Norm status, rather than norm type or blameworthiness, results in the side-effect effect.

This study aimed to determine whether the "side-effect effect" existed for both moral and conventional norms in a group of Chinese college students, and whether the norm type (moral or conventional) or the norm status (violating or conforming) resulted in this effect. The experiment used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design with Norm Type and Norm Status as between-group factors and with the Blame/Praise Ratings and Intentionality Judgments as dependent variables. Results indicated that the side-effect effect existed not only in situations involving moral norms, but also in those involving conventional norms. Norm Status was correlated with Intentionality Judgment in both situations involving moral and conventional norms, whereas Blame/Praise Rating was only correlated with the judgments in the moral situation. It turned out that the blame-praise asymmetry could not explain the phenomenon of the "Knobe effect." Regression analysis showed that norm status, rather than norm type, had a unique predictive effect on people's intentionality judgments. These results support the normative-reasons explanation, which proposes that foreseeing a harmful effect but not caring about it is the explanatory factor of the Knobe effect.