Improving the Nutrition and Screen Time Environment through Self-assessment in Family Childcare Homes in Nebraska

Objective: To determine if family childcare homes (FCCH) in Nebraska meet best practices for nutrition and screen time, and if focusing on nutrition and screen time policies and practices improves the FCCH environment. Design: A pre–post evaluation was conducted using the Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare (Go NAP SACC). Setting: FCCH in Nebraska, USA. Subjects: FCCH enrolled in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP; n 208) participated in a pre–post evaluation using Go NAP SACC. Results: At baseline, all FCCH met the minimum childcare standards for fifty-four of fifty-six practices in nutrition and screen time. After the intervention, FCCH demonstrated significant improvement in fourteen of the forty-four Child Nutrition items and eleven of the twelve Screen Time items. However, FCCH providers did not meet best practices at post-intervention. Lowest scores were found in serving meals family-style, promoting visible support for healthy eating, planned nutrition education and written policy on child nutrition. For screen time, lowest scores were reported on the availability of television, offering families education on screen time and having a written policy on screen time. Conclusions: FCCH in Nebraska were able to strengthen their policies and practices after utilizing Go NAP SACC. Continued professional development and participation in targeted interventions may assist programmes in sustaining improved practices and policies. Considering the varying standards and policies surrounding FCCH, future studies comparing the current findings with childcare centres and non-CACFP programmes are warranted

Executive Control in Early Childhood as an Antecedent of Adolescent Problem Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study with Performance-based Measures of Early Childhood Cognitive Processes

Identifying childhood cognitive processes that predict adolescent problem behaviors can help guide understanding and prevention of these behaviors. In a community sample of 313 youth recruited in a small Midwestern city between 2006 and 2012 (49% male, 64% European American), executive control and foundational cognitive abilities were assessed at age 5 in a lab setting with performance-based measures. In adolescence, youth provided self-report of problem behaviors in surveys administered annually between ages 14 and 16. Executive control was negatively associated with externalizing behavior problems and adolescents getting in trouble at school, accounting for foundational cognitive abilities and family background covariates. Executive control had negative but nonsignificant associations with internalizing problems and substance use initiation. The findings point to deficits in executive control as a childhood risk factor for later problems and a potential target for preventive interventions

Improving the Nutrition and Screen Time Environment Through Self-Assessment in Family Childcare Homes in Nebraska

Objective: To determine if family childcare homes (FCCH) in Nebraska meet best practices for nutrition and screen time, and if focusing on nutrition and screen time policies and practices improves the FCCH environment. Design: A pre–post evaluation was conducted using the Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Childcare (Go NAP SACC). Setting: FCCH in Nebraska, USA. Subjects: FCCH enrolled in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP; n 208) participated in a pre–post evaluation using Go NAP SACC. Results: At baseline, all FCCH met the minimum childcare standards for fifty-four of fifty-six practices in nutrition and screen time. After the intervention, FCCH demonstrated significant improvement in fourteen of the forty-four Child Nutrition items and eleven of the twelve Screen Time items. However, FCCH providers did not meet best practices at post-intervention. Lowest scores were found in serving meals family-style, promoting visible support for healthy eating, planned nutrition education and written policy on child nutrition. For screen time, lowest scores were reported on the availability of television, offering families education on screen time and having a written policy on screen time. Conclusions: FCCH in Nebraska were able to strengthen their policies and practices after utilizing Go NAP SACC. Continued professional development and participation in targeted interventions may assist programmes in sustaining improved practices and policies. Considering the varying standards and policies surrounding FCCH, future studies comparing the current findings with childcare centres and non-CACFP programmes are warranted

Parental Report of Outcomes From a Randomized Trial of In-Home Family Services

This study conducted a randomized trial to examine the efficacy of the Boys Town In-Home Family Services (IHFS) program for families of high-risk youth. Participants were recruited from a state helpline for families struggling with poor family functioning and child emotional or behavioral issues. Consent was obtained for 300 of which 152 were randomly assigned to participate in IHFS for 3–4 months and 148 were assigned to the services as usual comparison group. For the families in the treatment group, 18% did not participant in the intervention, and 66% of families received 20 or more service hours. Parent report data were collected at intake, post, as well 6 and 12 months after post data collection. Data were collected on constructs such as caregiver strain, family functioning, parenting, family resources, and parent report of child behavior. Piecewise analyses of the intake to post data indicated significantly greater reductions in caregiver strain for the treatment condition. Given the conservative corrections for the use of multiple tests, no other measures demonstrated significant differences. For the piecewise model of the maintenance phase, there were no significant differences between groups aside from caregiver strain that showed a significant improvement for the comparison condition. Supplementary dose-response analyses indicated that for most families there was an ideal dosage of about 25–75 hr to bring about the largest improvements in caregiver strain, parenting skills, and child behavior. Includes supplementary materials

Shy and Outgoing Preservice Teachers and Their Responses to Hypothetical Problem Behaviors in the Classroom

The present study explored the relations among preservice teacher shyness (shy, average, outgoing) and their responses towards hypothetical children displaying classroom problem behaviours (shy/quiet, exuberant/talkative) in the classroom. Participants were 335 elementary preservice teachers attending a Midwest university in the United States. Preservice teachers completed self-reports of shyness and responded to hypothetical vignettes depicting different classroom behaviours. Among the results, shy preservice teachers reported lower self-efficacy and less tendency to use warm/supportive and social-learning strategies as compared to their more outgoing counterparts. Shy preservice teachers also had lower tendency than average teachers to refer to high-powered strategies when dealing with shy children, but more likely with exuberant children. Results are discussed in terms of the role of personality in teaching

A Comparison of Task-Based and Questionnaire Assessments of Executive Control Aspects in Relation to Adolescent Marijuana Initiation

Prior research has linked deficits in executive control (EC) to marijuana use in adolescents but has relied either primarily on adolescent self-report of EC or tasked-based EC, and focused on limited aspects of EC, usually inhibitory control. We examined unique associations of three established aspects of EC (inhibitory control, working memory, and flexible shifting) assessed with both performance on laboratory tasks and self-report in relation to marijuana initiation. Participants were 260 youth (ages 14–18 years) from a small Midwestern city in the United States enrolled in the adolescent phase (beginning in 2017) of an ongoing study of EC development recruited originally between 2006 and 2012 (46% male, 72% European American). The three aspects of executive control were measured in a laboratory setting with well-established performance-based measures and with a psychometrically-sound self-report survey instrument. Youth also provided self-report of marijuana initiation in a phone survey administered during their laboratory visit. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that flexible shifting as measured by a performance-based task was negatively and uniquely associated with marijuana initiation (AOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.48 – 0.91), and self-reported deficits in inhibitory control were positively associated with marijuana initiation (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.15 – 3.21). Although larger-scale longitudinal research is needed, findings of this study suggest that screening efforts to identify youth at risk of marijuana initiation might rely on more cost-effective self-report assessment of inhibitory control, but further valuable information can come from more resource-intensive but sensitive performance-based assessment of flexible shifting

Cumulative Contextual Risk at Birth and Adolescent Substance Initiation: Peer Mediation Tests

Background: Children who experience multiple adversities, such as prenatal exposure to drugs and poverty, early in development are at increased risk for the early initiation of alcohol and cigarette use. However, studies that examine potentially malleable processes associated with substance use initiation in the context of exposure to cumulative stressors are scant. This study examined associations between cumulative contextual risk at birth and initiation of alcohol and cigarette use in adolescence, testing childhood peer marginalization and peer aggression and behavior problems as mediating mechanisms. Analyses further adjusted for fearfulness/inhibition and hyperactivity/distractibility to determine if the hypothesized mediating mechanisms were significant after accounting for temperamental characteristics associated with substance initiation. Methods: Participants were 6190 adolescents from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study. Data were collected on cumulative contextual risk (parent reports), substance initiation (adolescent reports), childhood peer processes and behavior problems (teacher reports), and temperamental characteristics (teacher reports). Novel discrete-time survival mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized mediating mechanisms. Results: Initial analyses showed that the associations between cumulative contextual risk and both alcohol and cigarette initiation were mediated by childhood peer processes and behavior problems; however, the indirect effects became statistically non-significant after adding the temperament variables, which themselves predicted substance initiation. Conclusions: Targeting peer processes may not be an effective way to interrupt pathways leading from early contextual risk to substance initiation. Instead, early screening and intervention efforts to delay substance initiation may need to be tailored to the individual temperamental characteristics of targeted participants

Associations of Cumulative Family Risk With Academic Performance and Substance Involvement: Tests of Moderation by Child Reading Engagement

Background: Exposure to cumulative contextual risk within the family early in life increases children’s risk for substance involvement and related difficulties, including school failure, in adolescence and young adulthood. However, potential protective factors that buffer these risk associations are relatively untested, yet such tests are needed to improve existing preventive interventions for enhancing resilience among vulnerable children. Objectives: This study tested child reading engagement with parents at home as a moderator of cumulative family risk associations with adolescent substance use and academic performance as well as young adult substance abuse. Methods: Population register data as well as parent-report and adolescent-report data from 6,963 participants of the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort study were analyzed via structural equation modeling with latent variable interactions. Results: Results showed that child reading engagement moderated the associations of cumulative family risk with both adolescent academic performance and young adult substance abuse, but not with adolescent substance use. The highest levels of academic performance were observed under conditions of low risk and high reading engagement. Interestingly, cumulative family risk had a small positive association with substance abuse when reading engagement was low and a negative association with the young adult outcome when reading engagement was high. Conclusions/Importance: Moderation tests revealed complex interaction forms that may have implications for both theory and family-based preventive interventions

Childhood cumulative contextual risk and depression diagnosis among young adults:the mediating roles of adolescent alcohol use and perceived social support

Abstract This study examined associations between cumulative contextual risk in childhood and depression diagnosis in early adulthood, testing two adolescent mediating mechanisms, alcohol use and perceived social support from family and friends, while accounting for the stability of internalizing problems over time and examining possible gender moderation. Multiple group mediation analyses were conducted using parent- and adolescent-report as well as hospital records data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (N = 6963). Our analyses demonstrated that the association between cumulative contextual risk in childhood and depression diagnosis in adulthood is mediated by adolescent alcohol use and perceived social support both for boys and girls. The findings highlight potentially malleable mediating mechanisms associated with depression in vulnerable youth that could be targets in selective depression preventive interventions