Cumulative effects of bullying and racial discrimination on adolescent health in Australia

This study examined how cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization influences the health of Australian adolescents (n=2802) aged 10-11 years (19.3% visible ethnic minorities (non-White, non-Indigenous); 2.6% Indigenous) using data from 3 waves (2010-2014) of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization had incremental negative effects on socioemotional difficulties. Higher accumulated exposure to both stressors across time was associated with increased BMI z-scores, and risk of overweight/obesity. Studies that examine exposure to single risk factors such as bullying victimization or racial discrimination at 1 time point only are likely to miss key determinants of health for adolescents from stigmatized racial/ethnic backgrounds and under-estimate their stressor burden

Temperament of Small-for-Gestational-Age and Appropriate-for-Gestational-Age Infants Across the First Year of Life

Temperament of Small-for-Gestational-Age and Appropriate-for-Gestational-Age Infants Across the First Year of Lif

Sexing the baby: Part 2 applying dynamic systems theory to the emergences of sex-related differences in infants and toddlers

a b s t r a c t During the first three years of life, children acquire knowledge about their own gender and the gendered nature of their environment. At the same time, sex-related behavioral differences emerge. How are we to understand the processes by which bodily differentiation, behavioral differentiation and gendered knowledge intertwine to produce male and female, masculine and feminine? In this article, we describe four central developmental systems concepts applied by psychologists to the study of early human development and develop them in enough depth to show how they play out, and what sort of knowledge-gathering strategies they require. The general theoretical approach to understanding the emergence of bodily/behavioral difference has broad applicability for the health sciences and for the study of gender disparities. Using dynamic systems theory will deepen and extend the reach of theories of embodiment current in the health sciences literature. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Understanding the development of gendered bodies is essential to an analysis of health disparities, disease prevention and treatment. Life history approaches to embodiment, including the body's relationship to sex, and gendered social milieu, require a starting point and a theory that can guide us as development proceeds; Previously, we assessed the state of knowledge about sex-related differences in the first three years of life In an article memorializing Esther Thelen's work, Spencer, Clearfield, Corbetta, Ulrich, Buchanan et al., (2006) identify four critical dynamic systems concepts A brief word about language. We try, whenever possible, to refer to group differences found in very young children as "sex-related". These differences overlap greatly between boys and girls, are variable within each group, and are not clearly a primary or secondary sex characteristic. Statistically, they correlate with natal genital sex and some believe that their early appearance means that they have a clear biological origin. On the other hand, we argue that the distinction between "biological" and "cultural" is not so clear. We use the word gender to indicate strongly held but culturally specific beliefs and practices about male and female, masculine and feminine. Both sex-related characteristics and gender can become embodied, although neither need be thought of as inborn or innate. Concept #1-a new emphasis on timing DST emphasizes that behavior, engaged in over time, influences nervous system structure and sets the stage for change. I

Parental Involvement in Children\u27s Education: Lessons from Three Immigrant Groups

This study explores immigrant group and individual differences within groups in parental reports of involvement in their children\u27s education as a function of both sociodemographic and cultural variables. Design. Over 300 parents from three different immigrant groups - Portuguese, Dominican and Cambodian - were interviewed when their children were in either second or fifth grade. Results. Language comfort and immigrant group membership were the most frequent variables associated with group differences in the various aspects of parental involvement. Cambodian parents showed the lowest levels of parent involvement as expressed in measures of attitudes, contact with schools, home-based control over children\u27s behavior, and provisions of material support for homework. Ethnographic data suggest that differing forms of group migration, the educational system\u27s differing responses to the groups, and group differences in cultural values explain the above findings. Within the Portuguese and Cambodian groups, language comfort was also the variable most frequently associated with individual differences in the dimensions of parent\u27s involvement. Finally, the different dimensions of parental involvement are highly correlated amongst each other within the Portuguese and Cambodian families, but not so for Dominicans. Conclusions. These findings suggest both similarities and differences in the processes of parental involvement in children\u27s education across three quite different immigrant groups

Family Stressors and Resources as Social Determinants of Health among Caregivers and Young Children

Life course-informed theories of development suggest it is important to integrate information about positive and negative aspects of the social environment into studies of child and parental wellbeing, including both stressors that compromise health and resources that promote well-being. We recruited a sample of 169 pairs of caregivers and young children (birth to 5 years) from a community health clinic and administered survey questions to assess stressors and resources. We constructed inventories of stressors and resources and examined the relationships between these inventories and caregivers’ depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep problems, and young children’s medical diagnoses derived from electronic health records. Cumulative stressors and resources displayed bivariate and adjusted associations with caregivers’ depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep problems. For depressive and anxiety symptoms, these associations were evident in models that included stressors and resources together. Caregivers with high stressors and low resources displayed the highest levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and sleep problems. In terms of children’s health outcomes, only modest trends were evident for developmental/mental health outcomes, but not other diagnostic categories. Future studies are needed to examine stressors and resources together in larger samples and in relation to prospectively assessed measures of child well-being

Family Stressors and Resources as Social Determinants of Health among Caregivers and Young Children

Life course-informed theories of development suggest it is important to integrate information about positive and negative aspects of the social environment into studies of child and parental wellbeing, including both stressors that compromise health and resources that promote well-being. We recruited a sample of 169 pairs of caregivers and young children (birth to 5 years) from a community health clinic and administered survey questions to assess stressors and resources. We constructed inventories of stressors and resources and examined the relationships between these inventories and caregivers’ depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep problems, and young children’s medical diagnoses derived from electronic health records. Cumulative stressors and resources displayed bivariate and adjusted associations with caregivers’ depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep problems. For depressive and anxiety symptoms, these associations were evident in models that included stressors and resources together. Caregivers with high stressors and low resources displayed the highest levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and sleep problems. In terms of children’s health outcomes, only modest trends were evident for developmental/mental health outcomes, but not other diagnostic categories. Future studies are needed to examine stressors and resources together in larger samples and in relation to prospectively assessed measures of child well-being