Social contextual factors of the African American family environment as predictors of children's early language outcomes

The purpose of this research was to examine contextual factors related to African American children’s early language environment. More specifically, this study explored the contribution of family poverty, mother’s nonstandard work schedules, and mother’s perception of racial discrimination to children’s early language environment and expressive language outcomes. Data for this study was drawn from the Family Life Project. Participants included 255 African American mothers who were employed when their children were 15 months of age. An additive model, which included maternal shift schedule and proximal parenting factors was determined. Working a nonstandard shift at 15 months was negatively associated mother’s language input at 15 months and children’s expressive language scores assessed during a picturebook activity at 24 months. Positive, engaged parenting at 15 months was positively associated with children’s expressive language abilities at 24 months. Although perceived racial discrimination negatively predicted maternal psychological distress, these findings were not extended to children’s language outcomes. Moreover, moderation of shift schedule by perceived racial discrimination was not found

Home–school differences in beliefs, support, and control during public pre-kindergarten and their link to children's kindergarten readiness

This study examines the prevalence of home-school match in child-rearing beliefs and socialization practices (control and support) and their relation to ethnicity and readiness skills of children (n=310) making the transition from publicly sponsored pre-k to kindergarten. Home-school match was operationalized both as a continuous absolute measure and as categories of match or mismatch. Overall, home-school match was more prevalent than mismatch. However, the results corroborate previous ethnographic studies showing higher rates of home-school mismatch among African Americans and Latinos than Euro Americans. Controlling for race and socioeconomic status, parents‘ beliefs and practices predicted readiness but teachers‘ did not. Absolute indicators of home-school differences were not related to kindergarten readiness. Directional indicators revealed that children attained greater skills when parents and teachers matched on child-centered beliefs, low control, and high support. Contrary to the cultural match hypothesis, home-school mismatch was associated with better outcomes than match in the case of adult-centered beliefs, control, and low support

Family relationships during infancy and later mother and father vocabulary use with young children

Very little previous research has considered the contributions of family relationships and interactions on the language input of mothers and fathers to their young children. This study examined the contributions of marital love and conflict, and broader family-level conflict, cohesion, and expressiveness to mother and father vocabulary in triadic interactions with their young children in 70 dual-earner families. It was found that after controlling for parent sensitivity and parent directive behavior, marital love and family conflict when children were 12 months of age were significant predictors of both father vocabulary and mother vocabulary to children at 24 months of age. In families with higher levels of marital love when children were 12 months of age, mothers and fathers used a more diverse vocabulary with their 24 month-old children. In families with lower levels of family conflict when children were 12 months of age, mothers and fathers used a more diverse vocabulary with their 24 month-old children

Predictors of maternal language to infants during a picture book task in the home: Family SES, child characteristics and the parenting environment

This study investigated the contribution of child characteristics and parenting environment to the relationship between family SES/demographic characteristics and maternal language to infants.1157 children were drawn from a representative sample of 1292 infants born to mothers in rural Appalachian counties and rural counties in southern minority U.S. communities. Mothers and their 6–8 month old babies were videotaped at home while talking about a wordless picture book. Mothers' language output and complexity were analyzed. Child temperament, age, and parenting environment (knowledge of child development and observed mother–child engagement) were predictors of maternal language. Furthermore, their inclusion reduced the magnitude of the association between demographic characteristics and maternal language. Tests of mediation suggested that the parenting environment partially mediates the relationship between SES/demographic characteristics and maternal language. Findings are discussed with respect to identifying proximal processes that explain how SES may exert its influence on the language of young children

Evaluating the endothelial-microglial interaction and comprehensive inflammatory marker profiles under acute exposure to ultrafine diesel exhaust particles in vitro

Exposure to combustion-derived particulate matter (PM) such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP) is a public health concern because people in urban areas are continuously exposed, and once inhaled, fine and ultrafine DEP may reach the brain. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) endothelial cells (EC) and the perivascular microglia protect the brain from circulating pathogens and neurotoxic molecules like DEP. While the BBB-microglial interaction is critical for maintaining homeostasis, no study has previously evaluated the endothelial-microglial interaction nor comprehensively characterized these cells’ inflammatory marker profiles under ultrafine DEP exposures in vitro. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate the in vitro rat EC-microglial co-culture under acute (24 h.) exposure to ultrafine DEP (0.002–20 μg/mL), by evaluating key mechanisms associated with PM toxicity: lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, cell metabolic activity (CMA) changes, and production of 27 inflammatory markers. These parameters were also evaluated in rat microglial and endothelial monocultures to determine whether the EC-microglial co-culture responded differently than the cerebrovasculature and microglia alone. While results indicated that ultrafine DEP exposure caused concentration-dependent increases in LDH leakage and ROS production in all groups, as expected, exposure also caused mixed responses in CMA and atypical cytokine/chemokine profiles in all groups, which was not expected. The inflammation assay results further suggested that the microglia were not classically activated under this exposure scenario, despite previous in vitro studies showing microglial activation (priming) at similar concentrations of ultrafine DEP. Additionally, compared to the cerebrovasculature alone, the EC-microglia interaction in the co-culture did not appear to cause changes in any parameter save in pro-inflammatory marker production, where the interaction appeared to cause an overall downregulation in cytokine/chemokine levels after ultrafine DEP exposure. Finally, to our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the influence of microglia on the BBB’s ultrafine DEP-induced cytotoxic and inflammatory responses, which are heavily implicated in the pathogenesis of PM-related cerebrovascular dysfunction and neurodegeneration

Validation of Three Food Frequency Questionnaires and 24Hour Recalls with Serum Carotenoid Levels in a Sample of African-American Adults

Abstract: The validity of self-reported fruit and vegetable intake in minority populations has not been adequately established. In this study, the authors examined the association of three food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and 24-hour dietary recalls with serum carotenoid levels. Approximately 1,000 African-American adults recruited from 15 churches in Atlanta, Georgia (199