Home Literacy Practices at 36 Months and Children's Concurrent and Later Language and Literacy Skills for Families Living in Rural Areas of High Poverty

Home literacy practices are important for child language and literacy skills. Most studies, however, focus on families living in urban or suburban areas; yet, little is known about the role of home literacy practices in child language and literacy skills for families living in high-poverty rural communities. The present study examined the associations between home literacy practices at 36 months of age and child language and literacy skills at 36 months, in prekindergarten, and in kindergarten for families residing in high-poverty rural areas. Three types of home literacy practices were examined: child literacy practices, parent literacy practices, and parent-child literacy practices. Results indicated that only the child literacy practices at 36 months were positively associated with child language and literacy skills in all three time points. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.Doctor of Philosoph

Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues

A field experiment examined whether increasing opportunities for face-to-face interaction while eliminating the use of screen-based media and communication tools improved nonverbal emotion-cue recognition in preteens. Fifty-one preteens spent five days at an overnight nature camp where television, computers and mobile phones were not allowed; this group was compared with school-based matched controls (n = 54) that retained usual media practices. Both groups took pre- and post-tests that required participants to infer emotional states from photographs of facial expressions and videotaped scenes with verbal cues removed. Change scores for the two groups were compared using gender, ethnicity, media use, and age as covariates. After five days interacting face-to-face without the use of any screen-based media, preteens' recognition of nonverbal emotion cues improved significantly more than that of the control group for both facial expressions and videotaped scenes. Implications are that the short-term effects of increased opportunities for social interaction, combined with time away from screen-based media and digital communication tools, improves a preteen's understanding of nonverbal emotional cues. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues

AbstractA field experiment examined whether increasing opportunities for face-to-face interaction while eliminating the use of screen-based media and communication tools improved nonverbal emotion–cue recognition in preteens. Fifty-one preteens spent five days at an overnight nature camp where television, computers and mobile phones were not allowed; this group was compared with school-based matched controls (n=54) that retained usual media practices. Both groups took pre- and post-tests that required participants to infer emotional states from photographs of facial expressions and videotaped scenes with verbal cues removed. Change scores for the two groups were compared using gender, ethnicity, media use, and age as covariates. After five days interacting face-to-face without the use of any screen-based media, preteens’ recognition of nonverbal emotion cues improved significantly more than that of the control group for both facial expressions and videotaped scenes. Implications are that the short-term effects of increased opportunities for social interaction, combined with time away from screen-based media and digital communication tools, improves a preteen’s understanding of nonverbal emotional cues

21st century media, fame, and other future aspirations: A national survey of 9-15 year olds

Past research found that messages in popular television promote fame as a top value, while social media allow anyone to reach broad audiences (Uhls & Greenfield, 2011; Uhls & Greenfield, 2012). During a sensitive developmental phase, preteens are the largest users of media, consuming over seven-and-a-half hours a day, seven days a week, outside of school. A nationwide survey in the United States asked 315 youth (M = 12 years; range: 9 -15 years) about their media habits as well as their aspirations for the future. Participants’ answers about their future goals clustered around two factors, representing individualistic, self-focused and collectivistic, other-focused aspirations. Fame, image, money and status were items in the former; helping others in need, helping family, and living near family were items in the latter. Watching television and using a social networking site each predicted self-focused aspirations, above and beyond the influence of control variables of age and maternal education, while the two media activities together predicted a larger portion of the variance than either alone. Collectivistic, other-focused aspirations were associated with nontechnology activities, most of which had an important social component. The implication is that individualistic, self-focused aspirations are related to 21st century media, whereas more collectivistic, other-focused aspirations are related to nontechnology activities, particularly those with a social component