•The Give-a-number task is among the most important tools for understanding numerical knowledge development.•Different versions of the task are presumed to be equivalent in the literature.•Three ...versions of the task with different follow-up questions were compared here.•The follow-up question has an effect on how children are categorized in terms of number knowledge.
The Give-a-number task is one of the most frequently used tests to measure the number knowledge of preschoolers at the time they acquire the meaning of symbolic numbers. In the task, an experimenter asks for a specific number of objects from a child. The literature utilizes several versions of this task, and usually it is assumed that the different versions are equivalent and that they do not have an effect on the measured number knowledge. In the present study, the specific potential effect of the follow-up questions posed after a trial on the measured number knowledge is investigated. Three versions of follow-up questions are compared. The results demonstrate that different versions affect the measured number knowledge of children. These results highlight that follow-up questions should be considered in studies using the Give-a-number task, and more generally, various versions of the Give-a-number task may have an essential effect on the measured number knowledge, thereby partly accounting for conflicting findings in the literature.
This study explores the relationship between parental food neophobia, feeding practices, and preschoolers' food neophobia in China. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1616 pairs of ...preschoolers and their parents. Electronic questionnaires were conducted to collect information about social and demographic characteristics, scores of food neophobia among both children and their parents, parents' feeding patterns and children's dietary quality. Results: Children's average food neophobia score was 23.73 ± 4.45. There was a positive correlation between parental food neophobia score (β: 0.154; 95%CI: 0.113, 0.195), pressure to eat (β: 0.694; 95%CI: 0.423, 0.964), postpartum breastfeeding initiation (β: 0.010; 95%CI: 0.002, 0.018), and children's score of food neophobia. However, parental modeling (β: -0.470; 95%CI: -0.732, −0.207) and the frequency of children eating with their families at home (β: -0.407; 95%CI: -0.707, −0.108) were negatively associated with children's food neophobia scores. The consumption frequencies of vegetables (P < 0.001), fruits (P < 0.001), domestic animals and poultry (P < 0.01), aquatic products (P < 0.05), beans and their products (P < 0.01), eggs (P < 0.05) and nuts (P < 0.05) and children's dietary diversity score (P < 0.001) are negatively associated with children’ food neophobia score. While the consumption frequencies of fast food (P < 0.001), sweets (P < 0.01) and puffed/fried food (P < 0.001) were positively associated with children's food neophobia. Conclusion: Chinese preschoolers' food neophobia needs more attention because children with high food neophobia tend to have lower dietary quality. Children whose parents have high-level food neophobia should be the focus of early prevention. Earlier postpartum breastfeeding, more use of parental modelling, less pressure to eat and higher frequency of children eating with families are helpful to reduce the incidence of children's food neophobia.
Outdoor play in the home yard is an important source of physical activity for many preschoolers. This study investigated if home yard size and vegetation are related to preschooler outdoor play time. ...High-resolution remotely sensed data were used to distinguish between types of vegetation coverage in the home yard. Shrub and tree cover, and yard size, were positively associated with outdoor play. Following stratification by socio-economic status (SES - parent education), only tree cover was positively associated with preschooler outdoor play in low SES households. All types of vegetation cover were positively associated with preschooler outdoor play in higher SES households. This study highlights the importance of larger yard sizes and higher levels of vegetation for facilitating outdoor play in preschoolers.
•Pre-schoolers are less physically active due to declining outdoor play time.•The home environment is a key setting for pre-schooler outdoor play.•Yard size and vegetation cover are positively associated with pre-schooler outdoor play.•Relationships differed once stratified by socio-economic status.
•Various moral stories with a helping theme promote preschoolers’ helping intentions.•Moral stories with actors’ positive emotions better promote their helping intentions.•Only moral stories with ...actors’ negative emotions promote their helping behavior.
Specific emotions, especially guilt, are considered to facilitate children’s prosocial behavior. The current study differentiated moral stories with a helping theme in terms of the valence and source of emotions and aimed to clarify the effect of these stories on preschoolers’ helping intentions and behavior. A total of 322 preschoolers between 4 and 6 years old were randomly assigned to four experimental groups and one control group. A specific type of moral story was presented to each of the experimental groups, whereas a nonmoral story was presented to the control group. The preschoolers were also asked to answer relevant questions to examine their story comprehension. The preschoolers’ donating intentions and behavior were then measured. The results showed that all the experimental groups expressed more donating intentions than the control group. However, only the group that read the moral story emphasizing the actor’s negative emotions toward his nonhelping behavior displayed more donating behavior than the control group. Therefore, the current study reveals that various moral stories dealing with a helping theme can facilitate helping intentions among preschoolers and that only certain stories can promote their helping behavior. Thus, it indicates the specificity of moral stories that facilitate prosocial behavior in terms of the valence and source of emotions in those stories.
Persistence of a distant goal is an important personality trait that determines academic and social success. Recent studies have shown that individual differences in persistence involve both genetic ...and environmental factors; however, these studies have not examined the role of maternal factors on a young children's persistence. The present study examined whether mothers' persistence is associated with persistence in children aged 3–6 years. In addition, the associations between mothers' persistence/parenting style and children's self-control/social development (prosocial behaviors and difficulties) were examined. Our results showed that maternal persistence is essential for the child's persistence. Children's self-control and social development were also associated with the mothers' persistence and parenting style. Our findings suggest that a young child's persistence may develop under the influence of a familiar adult (i.e., mother) and characterizes their social development, highlighting the importance of persistence in parenting.
With greater socio-economic development and the popularization of scientific child-rearing methods, education has become of primary importance in contemporary society. This study attempts to promote ...the physical and mental health of preschoolers and improve their comprehensive learning ability. To understand the impact of sports skills and Physical Education (PE) on preschoolers' physical and mental health, we utilized the Questionnaire Survey (QS) and expert evaluation. First, the development of sports skills and the basic connotation of sports were expounded. Second, the characteristics of preschoolers and the importance of preschool education were discussed. Finally, the physical and mental health of 60 preschoolers was evaluated based on physical skill development and sports. The results revealed that the respondent preschoolers were grouped reasonably, and the research results had high reference values. In the control group, the physical conditions of four preschoolers changed significantly in the best case. By comparison, in the experimental group, preschoolers with significant physical changes had reached nine at best. In addition, as high as nine respondents showed obvious improvement in their mental state in the best case. Therefore, this study demonstrates that physical skill development and PE significantly impact preschoolers' physical and mental health, which has an important impact on preschoolers' learning. This finding provides a reference for preschoolers' sports skills development and contributes to their comprehensive PE teaching.
Establishment of a consistent bedtime routine (the activities that occur right before lights out) is often recommended as part of healthy sleep habits. However, no studies have investigated the ...dose-dependent association of a bedtime routine with sleep outcomes, especially in young children for whom they are particularly recommended. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the associations of a consistent bedtime routine with sleep outcomes in young children (ages 0 through 5 y) in a large global sample and assess whether there is a dose-dependent relationship between the frequency of a bedtime routine both concurrently and retrospectively with sleep outcomes.
Mothers of 10,085 children (Australia-New Zealand, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States) completed the Brief Infant/Child Sleep Questionnaire.
A consistent bedtime routine was associated with better sleep outcomes, including earlier bedtimes, shorter sleep onset latency, reduced night wakings, and increased sleep duration. Decreased parent-perceived sleep problems and daytime behavior problems were also related to institution of a regular bedtime routine. Furthermore, there was a dose-dependent relationship, with better outcomes associated with increased "doses" of having a bedtime routine, both currently and retrospectively, and was found within both predominantly Asian and predominantly Caucasian cultural regions.
These results indicate that having a regular nightly bedtime routine is associated with improved sleep in young children, and suggests that the more consistently a bedtime routine is instituted and the younger started the better.
Based on Eisenberg et al.'s model of prosocial motivations, the present study examined what motivates preschoolers to display instrumental helping and how various motivations develop during the ...preschool years. The participants were 477 preschoolers aged 3-5 years assigned to one of five groups. In each experimental group, the experimenter emphasized an altruistic or egoistic helping motivation, namely, empathic concern, moral rules, praise or rewards. In the control group, no helping motivations were emphasized. Their instrumental helping was then measured by sorting cards for a sick child to play a game. The results show that each helping motivation had a positive effect on instrumental helping. Most of the motivational effects were similar across age, but the motivational effect of empathic concern increased obviously at the age of 5 years. Therefore, the present study reveals that both altruistic and egoistic motivations motivate preschoolers to help others. Most of the motivations develop steadily during the preschool years, but empathic concern as an altruistic motivation increases greatly at the end of the preschool years. The present study thus confirms the diversity of preschoolers' helping motivations with Eisenberg et al.'s model of prosocial motivations.
Introduction
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder clinically characterized by abnormalities in eye contact during social exchanges. We aimed to clarify whether the amount ...of gaze fixation, measured at the age of 6 years using Gazefinder, which is an established eye-tracking device, is associated with ASD symptoms and functioning.
Methods
The current study included 742 participants from the Hamamatsu Birth Cohort Study. Autistic symptoms were evaluated according to the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2), and the functioning of the participating children in real life was assessed using the Japanese version of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (VABS-II). The Gazefinder system was used for gaze fixation rates; two areas of interest (eyes and mouth) were defined in a talking movie clip, and eye gaze positions were calculated through corneal reflection techniques.
Results
The participants had an average age of 6.06 ± 0.14 years (males: 384; 52%). According to ADOS, 617 (83%) children were assessed as having none/mild ASD and 51 (7%) as severe. The average VABS-II scores were approximately 100 (standard deviation = 12). A higher gaze fixation rate on the eyes was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of the child being assigned to the severe ADOS group after controlling for covariates (odds ratio OR, 0.02; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.002–0.38). The gaze fixation rate on the mouth was not associated with ASD symptoms. A higher gaze fixation rate on the mouth was associated with a significantly lower likelihood of the child being assigned to the low score group in VABS-II socialization after controlling for covariates (OR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.04–0.85). The gaze fixation rate on the eyes was not associated with functioning.
Conclusion
We found that children with low gaze fixation rates on the eyes were likely to have more ASD symptoms, and children with low gaze fixation rates on the mouth were likely to demonstrate poorer functioning in socialization. Hence, preschool children could be independently assessed in the general population for clinically relevant endophenotypes predictive of ASD symptoms and functional impairments.
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