Security and closeness with mothers and fathers in the transition to adolescence: Differences by temperament.

Relations between parental (mother and father) sensitivity and opportunity for productive activity during early and middle childhood and fifth graders' perceptions of security and closeness to each parent were examined for 771 children. In addition, differential susceptibility to parental sensitivity and opportunity for productive activity was examined for children with difficult temperaments. Perceived security with respect to both mothers and fathers was related to both parental sensitivity and opportunity for productive activity.

Temperament and Physical Activity in Childhood.

Background: Temperament activity level can serve as a proxy for nondeliberate activity and an important part of overall energy expenditure. However, little is known about any association between temperament activity level and children's levels of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity. We examined whether temperament activity level in young children is associated with moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity later in childhood and midadolescence.

Classroom-level adversity: Associations with children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors across elementary school.

Concerns regarding the social-behavioral maladjustment of U.S. youth have spurred efforts among educators and policymakers to identify and remedy educational contexts that exacerbate children's anxiety, depression, aggression, and misconduct.

Effect of Sibling Birth on BMI Trajectory in the First 6 Years of Life.

Background And Objective: This study examined the longitudinal association between birth of a sibling and changes in body mass index z-score (BMIz) trajectory during the first 6 years of life.

Methods: Children (n = 697) were recruited across 10 sites in the United States at the time of birth. Sibship composition was assessed every 3 months.

Overweight adolescents and life events in childhood.

Objectives: To test the association of life events in childhood with overweight risk in adolescence; to examine the effects of chronicity, timing, intensity, valence, and type of life events; and to test potential moderators.

Methods: Mothers of children enrolled in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development responded to the Life Experiences Survey at ages 4, 9, and 11 years. Using logistic regression analysis, we tested the association of experiencing many negative life events with being overweight at age 15 years, controlling for child gender, race/ethnicity, maternal education, and maternal obesity.

Observed assertive and intrusive maternal feeding behaviors increase child adiposity.

Background: Few studies have examined observed maternal feeding behaviors and their potential association with child adiposity. The association between maternal prompting to eat and child adiposity has been inconsistent.

Objectives: This study sought to identify factors associated with maternal feeding behaviors and to test the hypothesis that more maternal prompts to eat, more assertive prompts, and more intrusiveness are associated with greater child adiposity.

Adolescent obesity and maternal and paternal sensitivity and monitoring.

Objective: To determine if adolescent obesity is associated with parenting characterized by lower sensitivity and lower monitoring of adolescent activities.

Methods: We used data from 744 adolescents in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Height and weight were measured at age 15½ years and obesity defined as body mass index ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex.

Weight status as a predictor of being bullied in third through sixth grades.

Objectives: Childhood obesity and bullying both are pervasive public health problems. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between childhood obesity and being bullied in third, fifth, and sixth grades while testing for potential confounding and moderation.

Methods: A total of 821 children who were participating in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (50% male, 81% white, 17% obese, 15% overweight in third grade) were studied.

Controlling maternal feeding practices associated with decreased dieting behavior in sixth-grade children.

Controlling maternal feeding practices have been linked to increased caloric intake, disinhibited eating, and obesity in children. Its relationship to child dieting behavior, however, is unknown. Using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, this study examined whether controlling feeding practices are associated with increased or decreased dieting behavior in children.

Body mass index and timing of pubertal initiation in boys.

Objective: To examine the association between body mass index (BMI [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared]) and timing of pubertal onset in a population-based sample of US boys.

Design: Longitudinal prospective study.

Setting: Ten US sites that participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

Short stature in a population-based cohort: social, emotional, and behavioral functioning.

Objective: The goal was to determine whether there were significant differences between children of normative versus short stature in behavioral functioning and peer relationships, according to teacher and child reports.

Methods: The study included 712 boys and girls in the sixth grade, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Main outcome measures included Achenbach Teacher's Report Form internalizing, externalizing, and total scores; Children's Depression Inventory scores (child report); Life Orientation Test-Revised scores (child report); Child Behavior with Peers questionnaire asocial with peers, excluded by peers, and peer victimization subscale scores (teacher report); peer social support and victimization scores (child report); and relationships with peers score (teacher report).

Maternal perception of neighborhood safety as a predictor of child weight status: The moderating effect of gender and assessment of potential mediators.

Objective: To determine if there is a relationship between maternal perception of neighborhood safety in 3(rd) grade and weight status in 5(th) grade children, to test if gender moderates this relationship, and to identify potential mediators.

Method: Data from 868 children and their mothers involved in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD-SECCYD) were used to examine the relationship between maternal perception of neighborhood safety in the 3(rd) grade and child body mass index (BMI) z-score in the 5(th) grade. Multiple regression models tested this relationship, the effect of gender, and potential mediating variables (time outdoors in neighborhood, television viewing, child behavior problems and puberty status).

Ability to delay gratification at age 4 years and risk of overweight at age 11 years.

Objectives: To determine if limited ability to delay gratification (ATDG) at age 4 years is independently associated with an increased risk of being overweight at age 11 years and to assess confounding or moderation by child body mass index z score at 4 years, self-reported maternal expectation of child ATDG for food, and maternal weight status.

Design: Longitudinal prospective study.

Setting: Ten US sites.

Maternal feeding practices become more controlling after and not before excessive rates of weight gain.

It is unclear whether controlling maternal feeding practices (CMFPs) lead to or are a response to increases in a child's BMI. Our goal was to determine the direction of this relationship. Data were obtained from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

Infant temperament, parenting, and externalizing behavior in first grade: a test of the differential susceptibility hypothesis.

Background: This study examines the differential susceptibility hypothesis as it pertains to relations between infant temperament, parenting, and behavior problems in first grade.

Method: Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were used in a series of hierarchical regression analyses focused on interactions between three aspects of parenting (harshness, sensitivity, productive activity) and temperament as they affect teacher-reported externalizing behavior in first grade. Step #1 included family income-to-needs, maternal education, gender, life events, and amount of child care as control variables, plus infant temperament and the three parenting variables.

Externalizing problems in fifth grade: relations with productive activity, maternal sensitivity, and harsh parenting from infancy through middle childhood.

This study used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to examine relations between parenting, self-control, and externalizing behavior from infancy through 5th grade. Results indicate that self-control measured during middle childhood mediates relations between maternal sensitivity, opportunity for productive activity, and parental harshness and both mother-reported and teacher-reported externalizing behavior. Results showed that parenting measured during middle childhood was more strongly related to 5th-grade externalizing behavior compared with parenting measured during infancy and early childhood.

Shorter sleep duration is associated with increased risk for being overweight at ages 9 to 12 years.

Objective: The potential association between short sleep duration or sleep problems and childhood overweight has not been well described. The objective of this study was to test the independent associations of sleep duration and problems with overweight risk in children.

Methods: Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were analyzed.

Weight status in young girls and the onset of puberty.

Objective: We sought to examine the association between weight status in early childhood and onset of puberty.

Patients And Methods: The study included 354 girls from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Girls were followed longitudinally with height and weight measurements at 36 and 54 months and grades 1, 4, 5, and 6 and with assessment of pubertal stage by physical examination and maternal report in grades 4 through 6.

Factor analysis and validity of the Conners Parent and Teacher Rating Scales in childhood cancer survivors.

Objective: To examine the factor structure of the Conners Parent Rating Scale-Revised: Short Form (CPRS-R:S) and the Conners Teacher Rating Scale-Revised: Short Form (CTRS-R:S) in children who are long-term survivors of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) or brain tumors (BT)and who have received central nervous system directed treatment.

Method: Parents and teachers of 150 long-term survivors completed the CPRS-R:S or CTRS-R:S as part of a screening battery. The data were submitted to a maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis to test the construct validity of the scales and the forms were compared.

Productive activity and the prevention of behavior problems.

This study used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care to examine relations between parenting, self-control, and externalizing behavior among 1st graders. Of special concern was the relation between opportunities for productive activity and behavior problems and whether the relation was mediated by self-control. Evidence in favor of the hypothesis was observed for both mother-reported and teacher-reported externalizing behavior even with substantial controls on the models examined.

Socioeconomic status and child development.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. Several ways of measuring SES have been proposed, but most include some quantification of family income, parental education, and occupational status. Research shows that SES is associated with a wide array of health, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes in children, with effects beginning prior to birth and continuing into adulthood.