Mediación de los padres sobre el ajuste del comportamiento emocional de los niños en Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Background: The present research was designed to investigate the influence of parental mediation on children’s emotional, behavioral adjustment and the moderation effect of children’s gender and parents’ education level on the association. Methods: 177 parents from Kota Kinabalu (central capital of Sabah) participated as the respondents answering online questionnaires which involved Livingstone and Helsper (2008) Parental Mediation (LHPM), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: Multiple regression analysis indicated a significant positive association of monitoring and active co-use with prosocial behaviors; F (2, 174) = 14.393, p < .05. Monitoring was negatively significantly associated with conduct problems; F (1, 175) = 5.267, p < .05 and hyperactivity/inattention; F (1, 175) = 13.920, p < .05. Active co-use was negatively significantly associated with peer problems; F (1, 175) = 7.005, p < .05. Interaction and technical restriction were not significantly associated with any contexts of SDQ. The moderation analysis for children’s gender and parents’ education level reflected no significant association. Conclusions: Overall, integrating monitoring and active co-use as parental mediation strategies is encouraged in Malaysia’s context. Both strategies significantly influence children’s adjustment in the emotional, behavioral context, promote positive behavior, and decrease the risk of negative ones.Antecedentes: la presente investigación pretende investigar la influencia de la mediación de los padres en el ajuste emocional y conductual de los niños y el efecto de moderación del género de los niños y el nivel educativo de los padres en la asociación. Métodos: 177 padres de Kota Kinabalu (capital central de Sabah) participaron como encuestados que respondieron cuestionarios en línea que involucraron a Livingstone y Helsper (2008) Mediación parental (LHPM) y Cuestionario de fortalezas y dificultades (SDQ). Resultados: El análisis de regresión múltiple indicó una asociación positiva significativa de la monitorización y el uso compartido activo con las conductas prosociales; F (2, 174) = 14.393, p <.05. El seguimiento se asoció de forma negativa y significativa con problemas de conducta; F (1, 175) = 5.267, p <.05 e hiperactividad / falta de atención; F (1, 175) = 13,920, p <0,05. El uso compartido activo se asoció de forma negativa y significativa con los problemas de los compañeros; F (1, 175) = 7,005, p <0,05. La interacción y la restricción técnica no se asociaron significativamente con ningún contexto de SDQ. El análisis de moderación para el género de los niños y el nivel de educación de los padres no reflejó una asociación significativa. Conclusiones: En general, en el contexto de Malasia se alienta la integración del monitoreo y el uso compartido activo como estrategias de mediación parental. Ambas estrategias influyen significativamente en la adaptación de los niños al contexto emocional y conductual, promueven comportamientos positivos y disminuyen el riesgo de comportamientos negativos

Does gadget usage hamper the psychological aspects of pre-schoolers?

The society is keen to rely on gadgets in everyday life due to versatile gadgets that help them to connect with the world in the 21st century. On the flip side of using gadgets, several researches argued that screen time is affecting children's psychosocial, behavioural and health problems. The present study interviewed 14 preschool teachers to perceive their knowledge in gadget usage, sedentary behaviour and social skills among preschoolers. Besides that, teaching methods and teachers' opinions on gadget usage were also discussed. Inductive analysis (IA) revealed that parents habitually offer children gadgets at home. Also, the teachers expressed a positive opinion on gadget usage where preschoolers simply learn from media and gadget's applications. However, the teachers asserted that usage time needs to be controlled and the amount of usage depends on the role of parents and teachers. Teachers' attitude and habits were found to be moderate in lesson planning and improving the social skills of preschoolers but minimal for addressing their sedentary behaviour

Spirituality, religiosity, and the quality of life among elderly adults in Malaysia

Malaysian older adults will be accounted for 10% of the population by 2020 as the consequence of the global ageing demographic revolution. Malaysian studies showed poor quality of life (QOL) among Malaysian older adults despite their long life expectancy. Studies showed the positive relationship between religiosity, spirituality, and QOL. However, previous studies did not distinguish spirituality from religiosity and it has presented insufficient persuasiveness of findings. This study aims to investigate spirituality and religiosity as the predictors for QOL. Quantitative and cross-sectional survey designs were used in this study. 180 participants from aged 60 to 88 were recruited. This study used multiple linear regression analysis to examine the predictors of religiosity and spirituality on QOL. The result showed only spirituality predicted QOL among elderly adults, but not religiosity. The findings of the study implied the importance of internalising spiritual virtues instead of focusing on religious activities which may not improve QOL among older adults significantly

Refugee Children in Malaysia: Perceptions of Family and Coping Mechanisms

The percentage of refugee children in Malaysia has been growing in recent years with a rise of more than 9000 in less than 3 years. More than 51,000 of the 164,620 documented refugees in 2019 are below the age of 18 years. Refugee children are often marginalized in society making them vulnerable and requiring special assistance in meeting their educational needs, mental health care and socio-emotional wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to discover the perceptions of refugee children regarding family life and their emotional and coping mechanisms. Employing the Collage Life-Story Elicitation Technique (CLET) and a discovery-oriented narrative approach, 25 refugee children at a non-governmental educational center in Kuala Lumpur were interviewed. The findings from an in-depth thematic analysis revealed that these refugee children perceived their families as having gone through separation and disruption resulting in isolation, loneliness and being powerless in the host country. Their coping mechanisms included help offered by enabling adults, teachers seen as angels and other wise people from the community who were their sources of strength. They strived for a better future through being brave and independent. We also discuss the need for more humanitarian programs and support for this group of vulnerable children in Malaysia

The factor structure among primary school children of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire of parents (SDQ-PR) in Malaysia during covid-19

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the most widely used questionnaires to measure psychosocial adjustment in children. SDQ has been translated into more than 60 languages. However, a published review of 48 studies from 17 different cultural settings reported that the mean and cut-off scores of the SDQ have shown some variation across cultural settings. The discrepancies found in the existing literatures for the factor structure require further investigation. Thus, the aim of the current study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of parent rating SDQ in the Malaysian context, especially during the pandemic. A total of 315 Malaysian parents of children in the age range of 9 to 11 years old who responded to the online survey participated in this study. The results demonstrated acceptable reliability with the internal consistency of Cronbach’s Alpha ranging from .69 to .79 for the subscales of the SDQ except for the subscale of peer problems (Cronbach’s Alpha = .53) indicated insufficient reliability indexed. The model of SDQ showed a fair fit to the data. The results suggested that peer problem items did not reflect the implication during the pandemic. There is a need to further explore the psychological adjustment after the outbreak of COVID-19

Effectiveness of ToyBox intervention to reduce sedentary behaviour among pre-school children: A case in Malaysia

Children have been found to spend more time on gadgets in learning and passing leisure time especially in the era of this new millennium. Besides, modern parents also claim that gadgets possess additional education function for children in acquiring new information. Nonetheless, on the flip side of using gadgets, little is known about the intervention in reducing sedentary behaviour, which mainly refers to prolonged sitting, especially among pre-schoolers. Thus, the present study investigates the effectiveness of ToyBox intervention in Malaysia to reduce sedentary behaviour among pre-schoolers (n = 281) via primary caregivers' self-reports. In addition, the Mann Whitney U test displayed significant variances between the experimental group and the control group in reducing sedentary behaviour among five-year-old and six-year-old pre-schoolers. Besides, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test revealed significant differences in the experimental group before and after treatments among four-year-olds, five-year-olds, and six-year-old pre-schoolers. Interestingly, Split-plot ANOVA analysis showed that the interaction terms of groups and treatment were significant, where the treatment for experimental groups was significantly lower in sedentary behaviour after treatment. As a result, the ToyBox intervention in Malaysia is indeed a promising intervention to reduce sedentary behaviour among pre-schoolers

A preliminary study: Does relationship closeness with grandchildren correlate with the quality of life and physical health of Malaysian Chinese elderly?

The 13th Next-Generation Global Workshop第13回次世代グローバルワークショップテーマ: New Risks and Resilience in Asian Societies and the World 日程: 21-23 November, 2020 開催場所: ベトナム社会科学院(ハノイ)/Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences(No. 1 Lieu Giai street, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam) ※Due to the COVID-19, the workshop will be held at ONLINE for overseas participants(not from Vietnam)/ONSITE for Vietnamese participants.This preliminary mixed-method study aimed to investigate whether grandparental childcare can contribute to elderly' quality of life and physical health. In the quantitative study, a total of 97 Chinese grandparents who are primary caregivers were recruited to examine the relations of relationship closeness, quality of life and physical health. Correlational analysis revealed that grandparent-grandchildren relationship closeness positively correlated with self-rated quality of life and physical health of the grandparents. In the qualitative interview, grandmothers (n = four Chinese grandmothers) who are primary caregivers were recruited to share their experience in taking care of grandchildren. Findings from the thematic analysis revealed that all grandmothers have a close relationship with their grandchildren. In specific, they are happy with the companionship of grandchildren even though they may feel physically tired in taking care of grandchildren. This preliminary study on skipped generation family provides insights into understanding the contribution of relationship closeness with grandchildren on the perceived quality of life and physical health of Malaysian grandparents who are the primary caregiver to their grandchildren

Why gadget usage among preschoolers should matter to teachers? a pilot study

Undoubtedly, gadgets are devices for communication, entertainment and education as well for younger children. Children play with gadgets sitting or lying down at home and worse of all, apart from lacking in physical activity, they only communicate with the apps screen rather than with their parents. Besides parents, teachers are crucial in nurturing preschoolers during the early stage of their development. As a result, the current qualitative study interviewed 14 teachers to perceive their knowledge in gadget usage, sedentary behaviour and social skills among preschoolers. Besides that, teaching methods were also uncovered to understand how the teachers enhance the social skills of preschoolers and reduce their sedentary behaviour. Inductive Analysis (IA) revealed that most teachers reported that, “Parents always give their mobile phones” to the preschoolers and interestingly, the preschoolers said, “Tell the teachers that they are playing gadgets at home.” Moreover, some of the teachers reported that gadgets are not safe for preschoolers if too much time is spent on them. As predicted, all the teachers were apparently unaware of the detriment of gadget usage on sedentary behaviour and social skills, especially for four-year-old children as most of them were quiet in preschool. The teachers’ attitude and habit were found to be moderate in lesson planning and improving the social skills of preschoolers but minimal for addressing their sedentary behaviour

Dying in cyberworld: violent video games extinguished children’s death concept and attitude

Death is often a taboo topic in society, especially among the Chinese community. Most of the violent video games spread immoral values of life and death. Hence deformed death concept and death attitude are easily moulded in children particularly without proper supervision from parents. The misconception of death concept and death attitude can manipulate primary school children’s attitudes towards death which gradually might lead children to harm themselves or others. This study is aimed at identifying the relationship between violent video games and children’s death concept and death attitude (Fear of death, Death avoidance, Approach Acceptance, Escape Acceptance). The differences between the level of exposure to violent video games towards children’s death concept and death attitude are also carried out in this study. A total of 397 data was collected from Malaysian Chinese schoolchildren between 10 to 12 years of age by using the purposive sampling method. Instruments used in this study consist of demographic information, Death Attitude Media Violence Exposure. The study showed that a high level of exposure towards violent video games had a significant negative correlation with death concept and fear of death, whilst significantly positive correlation with escape acceptance. The result of the independent samples t-test showed that children with high exposure to violent video games had lower death concept and fear of death and a higher level of escape acceptance. Further research is needed to explore the death concept and attitude among children as technology has become an inseparable part of human beings in the 4th Industrial Revolutio

Stressors, psychological states, and relationship quality among East Malaysian adults with partners amid the COVID-19 lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact not only on healthcare systems and economic threats but also on relationships. Due to the massive measures of the Movement Control Order, such as social distancing, strictly limited physical activities, and making adjustments to working from home—merged with the pandemic’s fear—romantic partners may face challenges that affect the quality of their relationships. The purpose of this study was to (i) identify stressors experienced by participants during the COVID-19 lockdown, (ii) evaluate participants’ psychological well-being before and during the lockdown, and (iii) see if participants’ perceived relationship quality differed before and during the lockdown. An online self-report questionnaire was used to recruit 334 adults (58.1 percent female, 41.9 percent male) with partners (married = 304, engaged = 12, and in committed relationships = 17). Participants were asked about stressors they encountered as a result of COVID-19 using an open-ended question. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) were used to assess mental health, and the Perceived Relationship Quality Component (PRQC) Inventory was used to assess relationship quality. According to the findings, the top three common stressors reported by participants were financial problems, restricted movement, and fear of COVID-19 infection. Participants reported significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression during the lockdown than before. The findings also revealed that participants’ relationship quality improved during the lockdown compared to before the lockdown. The current study contributes by providing information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and the quality of couples’ relationships during the pandemic