Thesis advisor: Rebekah Levine Coley / Emerging research suggests that children's physical health may account for some of the variability in developmental competencies at school entry, which are the cognitive, learning, and behavioral skills necessary for long-term academic achievement. Most studies on children's health find that neonatal risks, like low birth weight and premature birth, impair children's early functioning, but little is known about other domains of children's health, like global health or acute and chronic conditions, which may be associated with functioning at school entry. Moreover, it is unclear what role physical health may play in children's access to and engagement in home and early childhood education center-based learning contexts, which may function as pathways linking early health disparities with later development. This dissertation tested direct associations between a range of childhood health problems and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry, as well as indirect and interacted associations with early learning contexts. Given the well-established socioeconomic gradient in both health and development, analyses also explored whether associations linking health and development were conditional on family socioeconomic status. Data were drawn from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Birth Cohort; N = 5,900), which follows a cohort of children born in 2001 from infancy through kindergarten entry. Linear regressions and path analyses revealed that four of five health conditions were associated with lower school readiness skills, most consistently in the domains of cognitive and learning skills. Neonatal risks, poor health, and hospitalization functioned directly to predict lower cognitive and learning skills, where as asthma diagnosis predicted heightened learning skills. Only poor health functioned indirectly through more restricted home learning activities. Children's time in ECE functioned in a compensatory role to attenuate associations between hospitalization and lower school readiness skills. Across all models, there was no evidence that measured associations varied across the family socioeconomic spectrum. Findings highlight the importance of interdisciplinary research on child well-being and draw attention to potential avenues for prevention and intervention. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

<p> Adolescent alcohol use is a major public health problem that affects millions of youth in the United States annually. High prevalence rates of youth alcohol use are related to many factors; one direct influence is the effect of adverse childhood experiences and the substantial impact on brain and behavioral development. This study assessed the relationship between the effects of adverse experiences and specific protective factors on the development of alcohol use in middle school students. Utilizing a cross-sectional design with the administration of a self completed survey, the outcomes show a relationship between higher adverse childhood experience scores and an increased prevalence of 30-day alcohol use. Additionally shown is a decline in use by students who report having a higher incidence of protective factors. This study will be utilized in building community awareness, adaptations to educational processes, creating community wide strategies and innovative public health approaches for prevention by understanding the collective impact that adverse experiences have on a child's health in relation to alcohol use.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2457. Adviser: Michaelene Ostrosky. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-212) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Yes / Objective: This project sought to investigate whether an association may be observed between isotopic stress indicators and skeletal evidence of pathological conditions. Materials: Deciduous and permanent teeth of 15 non-adults from two contemporaneous mid-19th century London burial grounds (City Bunhill, Lukin Street). Methods: δ13C and δ15N was measured in the incrementally sectioned dentine collagen. Isotopic profiles for each individual included death during tooth development. Results: Individuals with skeletal evidence of chronic pathological conditions (e.g., rickets, tuberculosis) exhibited raised δ15N values of 0.5-1.7‰ in the months prior to death. Isotopic change consistent with chronic physiological stress prior to death was also recorded in two individuals with no skeletal evidence of disease. An offset was observed between co-forming bone and dentine δ15N values in both populations, indicating that bone and dentine are not recording the same isotopic changes. Conclusions: Isotopic change consistent with chronic physiological stress was observed in both those with and without skeletal evidence of disease, suggesting that adaptation to chronic stress in childhood was not uncommon within these 19th century London populations. Significance: Chronic physiological stress prior to death may be seen in the incrementally sampled dentine of non-adults who die during tooth formation. Limitations: The temporal resolution of current dentine micro-sampling methods may mask or minimise visibility of shorter-term periods of stress or dietary change. Suggestions for further research: Future research should further explore the relationship between specific skeletal pathologies and isotopic evidence for stress.

<p>The current study sought to examine certified child life specialists&rsquo; perspectives on supporting siblings of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The intent of the study was to identify the types of support available, barriers to offering support, the individuals who offers support and the effectiveness of interventions by certified child life specialists with siblings of infants in the NICU. Sixty-eight certified child life specialists were surveyed regarding their work supporting siblings of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Results support previous literature suggesting that there are many barriers to offering support to siblings in the hospital, including: staff availability, space constraints, funding, and visitation policies. In addition, results demonstrated that provided supports still vary widely from hospital to hospital and certified child life specialists are the individuals who are most likely to offer support when it is available. Furthermore, the certified child life specialists surveyed view their interventions with siblings of infants in the NICU as effective or very effective. In conclusion, these findings support the need to increase the presence of certified child life specialists in the NICU in order to adequately meet the psychosocial needs of siblings. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: certified child life specialists, child life interventions, siblings, neonatal intensive care unit, NICU </p>

<p> Childhood obesity rates have increased three-fold since 1980 and up to 80% of obese children become obese adults. Since young children are forming habits that they will carry with them into adulthood, preschool represents an ideal setting to instill proper physical activity habits. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to assess the amount of physical activity in preschool children during three different recess conditions on separate days: <i>free play, structured play</i> and a <i>control</i> (non-active) condition. </p><p> Physical activity levels were measured in preschool children <i> (N</i> = 22) during three, 30-minute recess conditions; <i>control, structured play</i> recess, and <i>free play</i> recess. Children wore accelerometers for the duration the school day (165 minutes) for three days. Accelerometer counts during the recess sessions and for the entire school day were recorded. Each recess condition was completed on a separate day, but all during the same week. After all three recess conditions had been completed; the child was asked which recess period they preferred. </p><p> Children accumulated significantly <i>(p </i>= 0.001) more accelerometer counts during recess and for the entire school day in the <i> free play</i> (570 &plusmn; 460 counts.min^-1 at recess; 632 &plusmn; 232 counts.min^-1 during school day) and <i> structured</i> (1,416 &plusmn; 448 counts.min^-1 at recess; 629 &plusmn; 200 counts.min^-1 during school day) recess conditions versus the <i>control</i> condition (570 &plusmn; 460 counts.min^-1 at recess; 462 &plusmn; 200 counts.min^-1 during school day). Accelerometer counts during recess and for the entire school day were not different (<i>p</i> = 0.9) between the <i>free play</i> and <i>structured</i> recess conditions. All children indicated that they preferred either the <i>structured play</i> (55%) or <i>free play</i> (45%) recess conditions over the <i> control</i> recess condition. </p><p> Presently both a <i>structured play</i> and <i>free play </i> recess condition were equally successful in increasing physical activity behavior and were preferred versus a non-active recess condition. Providing pre-school children with the opportunity to be physically active during recess successfully increases physical activity during the school day and is preferable to a sedentary recess.</p>

<p> The 2011 East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami suddenly took the homes, family members, friends, and familiar neighborhoods away from the children of Iwate. In the midst of this difficult situation, early childhood development (ECD) programs provided protective environments for the young children to access continuous care and development opportunities. This case study examines how these daycare centers in Iwate prepared for, responded to, and coped with the severe natural disaster, providing physical, cognitive, and psychosocial protections to these children.</p><p> The study re-affirmed that daycare centers in Iwate had integrated the national standards for disaster risk reduction (DRR). On the day of the disaster, personnel safely evacuated the children while practicing monthly drills. Despite the challenges, the daycare programs quickly re-established normalcy in children&rsquo;s lives, ensuring continuous access to care. Not only did daycare personnel act in loco parentis for these children, but also re-installed daycare programs during the recovery.</p><p> The study revealed that local governments also faced serious challenges in their leadership and coordination roles. Their response capacities had been severely affected by the disaster. Governments&rsquo; appropriate and timely guidance was most beneficial for the daycare providers. Among other recommendations, I assert that in the future, local governments could take more active roles in coordinating the massive influx of humanitarian organizations. </p><p> This interpretivist research was based on my one-year fieldwork in Iwate immediately after the disaster, and employed a series of survey instruments (questionnaires and interviews). This case study contributes to the field of education and ECD in emergencies through the use of qualitative, ethnographic research. It also recognizes significant and complimentary contribution of qualitative inquiry methods, including on-site fieldwork, ethnographic analyses, and follow-up interviews, for better understanding of crisis situations.</p><p> While pre-school programs are not compulsory in Japan, the study calls attention to the valuable protection that they provide for both young children and their childhoods in emergencies. A recovery strategy that focuses on protective environments for children has great potential as a harmonizing approach, rather than as a parallel one, in the complex nature of humanitarian assistance. </p>

This thesis investigates infant and childhood health in the Roman period (1st to 4th centuries A.D.) cemetery at Vagnari using data on the prevalence and timing of linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH‘s). These results are examined in the context of historical and archaeological evidence for childhood health in ancient Rome. Analysis of the prevalence of LEH‘s in 48 individuals reveals a low frequency (64.6 %) of enamel hypoplasias in comparison with other Roman period skeletal samples, suggesting that political–economic or geographical variables may have contributed to the generally healthy conditions for subadults at Vagnari. Intrasite analysis indicates no significant difference between sexes or burial types with respect to the average number of teeth affected with hypoplasias and the average total number of defects, but a significant difference does exist between age groups (divided into 15 year intervals). The hypoplastic data indicate that males and females were experiencing similar levels of stress during infancy and childhood. These results are not consistent with the historical evidence, which suggests that male children were preferentially treated in ancient Roman society. Measurement of each hypoplastic defect indicates a peak age at occurrence of 2.75 years of age, which is interpreted as evidence of the end of the weaning process. Enamel hypoplasias occurred until around 6.5 years of age, suggesting that these Roman children experienced stress throughout childhood, possibly the result of childhood illness or malnutrition. The hypoplastic data are consistent with the historical evidence from the Roman period with respect to the general timetable of weaning. This research integrates biological, archaeological, and historical information about the lives of children to help investigate the physical well–being of a rural working class population in the ancient Roman Empire.

No / Dental Enamel Hypoplasia has long been used as a common nonspecific stress indicator in teeth from archaeological samples. Most researchers report relatively minor linear and pitted hypoplastic defects on tooth crown surfaces. In this work we report a high prevalence and early age of onset of extensive enamel defects in deciduous and permanent molars in the subadults from the post-medieval cemetery of Broadgate, east central London. Analysis of the dentition of all 45 subadults from the cemetery, using both macroscopic and microscopic methods, reveals disturbed cusp patterns and pitted, abnormal and arrested enamel formation. Forty-one individuals from this group (93.2%) showed some evidence of enamel hypoplasia, 28 of them showing moderate or extensive lesions of molars, deciduous or permanent (63.6% of the sample). Scanning Electron Microscope images reveal many molars with grossly deformed cuspal architecture, multiple extra cusps and large areas of exposed Tomes' process pits, where the ameloblasts have abruptly ceased matrix production, well before normal completion. This indented, rough and poorly mineralized surface facilitates both bacterial adhesion and tooth wear, and when such teeth erupt fully into the mouth they are likely to wear and decay rapidly. We suggest that this complex combination of pitted and plane-form lesions, combined with disruption of cusp pattern and the formation of multiple small cusps, should henceforth be identified as Cuspal Enamel Hypoplasia.

No description available.