Stress and burnout are pervasive among public school teachers and amplified in urban schools, where job demands are often high and resources low. Relatively little is known about factors contributing ...to stress and burnout among urban school teachers specifically, or how these aspects of teacher occupational wellbeing relate to their use of effective classroom practices. Rather than utilizing objective measures, extant research has relied heavily on teacher self-report of antecedents and consequences of stress and burnout, which have also rarely been examined in tandem. To address this and other gaps in the literature, the current study examined the interplay of job demands and resources, stress and burnout, and effective classroom practices (operationalized as warm-demanding teaching). Two discrete observational measures, in addition to teacher self-report, were collected from a sample of 255 teachers in 33 low-income, urban middle schools. Findings indicated that White teachers, female teachers, and teachers in low-income schools reported higher stress and burnout. Teachers reporting more self-efficacy, affiliation with colleagues, and student emphasis on their academics (i.e., more resources) reported lower stress and burnout; furthermore, adding resources to the model attenuated associations between student disruptive behaviors and stress and burnout. In turn, stress was associated with lower levels of observed demanding teaching (instructional dialogue); however, surprisingly, burnout was related to higher levels of observed teacher warmth (sensitivity). We discuss these findings in light of prior research and consider implications for future research and professional development for teachers.
This study explored transactional associations among visuomotor integration, attention, fine motor coordination, and mathematics skills in a diverse sample of one hundred thirty-five 5-year-olds ...(kindergarteners) and one hundred nineteen 6-year-olds (first graders) in the United States who were followed over the course of 2 school years. Associations were dynamic, with more reciprocal transactions occurring in kindergarten than in the later grades. Specifically, visuomotor integration and mathematics exhibited ongoing reciprocity in kindergarten and first grade, attention contributed to mathematics in kindergarten and first grade, mathematics contributed to attention across the kindergarten year only, and fine motor coordination contributed to mathematics indirectly, through visuomotor integration, across kindergarten and first grade. Implications of examining the hierarchical interrelations among processes underlying the development of children's mathematics skills are discussed.
Delayed, as opposed to immediate, gratification is generally understood to indicate adaptive development. The present study investigates performance on a choice-based delay of gratification measure ...and its relations with other outcomes in a sample of children of color from low-income families, who are underrepresented in delayed gratification research. The 6-item choice delay of gratification task, administered at the start of kindergarten (Mage = 5.5 years), exhibited good reliability. Items were largely equal in difficulty, but not equally discriminant. Children who chose immediate gratification had better executive function and were rated higher than their peers by their kindergarten teachers on behavioral measures; patterns in relations with first grade classroom behavior were similar, but weaker and not robust to controls. Choosing immediate gratification was also positively related to concurrent and later achievement, but not after controlling for executive function. These observations reinforce a need to clarify constructs underlying delay of gratification choices within groups of children underrepresented in this line of research.
Economic hardship can affect children's development through child–caregiver interactions, which may mediate cascading effects of other family stress processes. This study examined, simultaneously, ...the relations of financial strain, caregiver general stress, and child–caregiver conflict—each measured at two time points—with child self‐regulatory outcomes in a high‐poverty sample (age 5–7 years; n = 343). Increase in child–caregiver conflict mediated negative relations between other processes and development of executive function. In contrast, only increase in financial strain had direct, negative association with development of delay of gratification and did not significantly mediate relations between any other process and children's outcomes. Results have implications for understanding effects of family stress on self‐regulatory outcomes and for interventions with low‐income families.
•Executive function and visuomotor integration’s associations with mathematics.•Sample comprised kindergarteners and first graders of low socioeconomic status.•Both skills uniquely associated ...concurrently with mathematics (all outcomes).•Both skills uniquely associated with improvement on overall and five of six outcomes.•Compensatory associations found for only one concurrent and one longitudinal outcome.
Research has illuminated contributions—usually modeled separately—of both executive functioning (EF) and visuomotor integration (VMI) to mathematical development in early elementary school. This study examined simultaneous associations of EF and VMI, measured at the beginning of the school year, with concurrent and later mathematics performance on several mathematics assessments in kindergartners (n=89,Mage=5.5years) and first graders (n=73,Mage=6.6years) of low socioeconomic status. Both skills were related to concurrent performance on all assessments, as well as improvement through the end of the school year for all but a geometry subtest, which was predicted only by VMI. No significant influence of an interaction between the skills was present, except for concurrently on the geometry subtest and longitudinally on an assessment with a relatively strong emphasis on informal skills. Findings are discussed in the context of supporting mathematics development in early childhood.
This study explored transactional associations among visuomotor integration, attention, fine motor coordination, and mathematics skills in a diverse sample of one hundred thirty-five 5-year-olds ...(kindergarteners) and one hundred nineteen 6-year-olds (first graders) in the United States who were followed over the course of 2 school years. Associations were dynamic, with more reciprocal transactions occurring in kindergarten than in the later grades. Specifically, visuomotor integration and mathematics exhibited ongoing reciprocity in kindergarten and first grade, attention contributed to mathematics in kindergarten and first grade, mathematics contributed to attention across the kindergarten year only, and fine motor coordination contributed to mathematics indirectly, through visuomotor integration, across kindergarten and first grade. Implications of examining the hierarchical interrelations among processes underlying the development of children's mathematics skills are discussed.
The endocycle is a variant cell cycle consisting of successive DNA synthesis and gap phases that yield highly polyploid cells. Although essential for metazoan development, relatively little is known ...about its control or physiologic role in mammals. Using lineage-specific cre mice we identified two opposing arms of the E2F program, one driven by canonical transcription activation (E2F1, E2F2 and E2F3) and the other by atypical repression (E2F7 and E2F8), that converge on the regulation of endocycles in vivo. Ablation of canonical activators in the two endocycling tissues of mammals, trophoblast giant cells in the placenta and hepatocytes in the liver, augmented genome ploidy, whereas ablation of atypical repressors diminished ploidy. These two antagonistic arms coordinate the expression of a unique G2/M transcriptional program that is critical for mitosis, karyokinesis and cytokinesis. These results provide in vivo evidence for a direct role of E2F family members in regulating non-traditional cell cycles in mammals.
The association of fetal exposure to antiseizure medications (ASMs) with outcomes in childhood are not well delineated.
To examine the association of fetal ASM exposure with subsequent adaptive, ...behavioral or emotional, and neurodevelopmental disorder outcomes at 2, 3, and 4.5 years of age.
The Maternal Outcomes and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (MONEAD) study is a prospective, observational cohort study conducted at 20 epilepsy centers in the US. A total of 456 pregnant women with epilepsy or without epilepsy were enrolled from December 19, 2012, to January 13, 2016. Children of enrolled women were followed up with formal assessments at 2, 3, 4.5, and 6 years of age. Statistical analysis took place from August 2022 to May 2023.
Exposures included mother's epilepsy status as well as mother's ASM blood concentration in the third trimester (for children of women with epilepsy). Women with epilepsy were enrolled regardless of ASM regimen.
The primary outcome was the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3) General Adaptive Composite (GAC) score among children at 4.5 years of age. Children of women with epilepsy and children of women without epilepsy were compared, and the associations of ASM exposures with outcomes among exposed children were assessed. Secondary outcomes involved similar analyses of other related measures.
Primary analysis included 302 children of women with epilepsy (143 boys 47.4%) and 84 children of women without epilepsy (45 boys 53.6%). Overall adaptive functioning (ABAS-3 GAC score at 4.5 years) did not significantly differ between children of women with epilepsy and children of women without epilepsy (parameter estimate PE, 0.4 95% CI, -2.5 to 3.4; P = .77). However, in adjusted analyses, a significant decrease in functioning was seen with increasing third-trimester maximum ASM blood concentrations (PE, -7.8 95% CI, -12.6 to -3.1; P = .001). This decrease in functioning was evident for levetiracetam (PE, -18.9 95% CI, -26.8 to -10.9; P < .001) and lamotrigine (PE, -12.0 95% CI, -23.7 to -0.3; P = .04), the ASMs with sample sizes large enough for analysis. Results were similar with third-trimester maximum daily dose.
This study suggests that adaptive functioning of children of women with epilepsy taking commonly used ASMs did not significantly differ from that of children of women without epilepsy, but there was an exposure-dependent association of ASMs with functioning. Thus, psychiatric or psychological screening and referral of women with epilepsy and their offspring are recommended when appropriate. Additional research is needed to confirm these findings.
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