This study describes the development of the Sociomoral Atmosphere Rating Template (SMART), an instrument designed to rate the sociomoral atmosphere in early childhood classrooms, and an investigation of the instrument's reliability and validity. Results indicate that individuals can be trained to reliably use the SMART and that the measure is internally consistent. In addition to its face validity, results indicate that the SMART has convergent validity when compared to the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale - Revised (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998) and the Teacher Interaction Scale (Arnett, 1989). Comparisons at the subscale level suggest discriminant validity. Implications and plans for further research are provided.

Breakfast consumption has been associated with an improved nutrient intake and diet quality in children and adolescents. Ready to eat cereal (RTEC) breakfast contributes to macro and micronutrient intake, because it is usually fortified with vitamins and minerals, and is low in fat and high in fiber content. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of RTEC consumption on nutrient intake and weight status in Hispanic-American (HA) children and adolescents using data from 1999 to 2002 The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Participants were categorized by breakfast skippers, RTEC breakfast, and other breakfast consumers. Hispanic-American children and adolescents consumed more other types of breakfast than an RTEC breakfast. Skipping breakfast was more common in HA adolescents than in children. Hispanic-American children and adolescents who consumed an RTEC breakfast had on average a lower intake of total fat and cholesterol than those who consumed other breakfast. Children between 1 to 5 years of age who consumed an RTEC breakfast had a higher mean energy intake from protein and a higher fiber intake than HA children who skipped breakfast. Hispanic-American in all age groups who consumed an RTEC breakfast had a better intake of vitamin B6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, iron and zinc than those who consumed other breakfast and those who skipped breakfast. Children and adolescents met on average two thirds of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin C and K, but did not average of the two thirds of the RDA for vitamin E and fiber for any age regardless of the breakfast consumption pattern. Moreover, Adolescents who consumed an RTEC breakfast had a higher adequacy ratio (MAR) for shortfall nutrient intake than those who consumed others breakfast. Children between 6 to 12 years of age who skipped breakfast had a significantly higher mean of waist circumference than those who ate other breakfast; but this study found no significant association between the consumption of breakfast and skipped breakfast with the risk of overweight or being overweight in HA children and adolescent.

Prompt strategies have been used in the literature to increase the compliance of preschool-aged children to teacher directives (Wilder & Atwell, 2006; Wolery & Gast, 1984). The purpose of this study was to train teachers to use guidance/prompt strategies to increase child compliance with teacher directives related to play and social skills. This study builds on the current literature base by using prompting, specifically the least-to-most assistive prompt hierarchy (LtM) (first described by Horner & Keilitz, 1975), with the additional requirement of teacher-child proximity and teacher-child eye level prior to beginning the prompt sequence. These two additional requirements are consistent with recommended practice in early childhood education (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). The participants consisted of 3 preschool teachers in an inclusive early childhood classroom. Teacher prompts and childrenâs completion of teacher directives were measured during free choice center time. Results were consistent with previous research (Wilder & Atwell, 2006; Wolery & Gast, 1984) in that compliance to teacher directives increased in preschool children with the implementation of the least-to-most assistive prompt hierarchy.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that self-reported physical activity (PA) levels quantified from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) could be used to improve the prediction of percent body fat (%BF) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) from body mass index (BMI), gender, and race in White and Black college students. A total of 278 students, aged 18 24 yr, volunteered to participate. There were 133 males (85 White and 48 Black) and 145 females (77 White and 68 Black). Total activity levels were quantified in MET-hours per week (MET-hrswk-1) using the IPAQ short form. Height and weight were measured and BMI values calculated (kgm-2). Percent fat was assessed using DXA. Regression analysis was used to determine the impact of MET-hrswk-1 on the relationship between %BF and BMI, taking gender and race into account. The prediction sum of squares (PRESS) statistic was used to cross-validate the models. Mean (± SD) values were as follows: MET-hrswk-1 37.4 ± 21.9, %BF 24.5 ± 9.3%, and BMI 24.4 ± 4.1 kgm-2. Percent body fat was significantly correlated with MET-hrswk-1 (r = -0.44, p < 0.0001) and BMI (r = 0.38, p < 0.0001). Stepwise regression analysis of a reduced model with BMI, gender and race produced an R2 value of 0.81 (root mean square error [RMSE] = 4.07). The full model with MET-hrswk-1 marginally improved the prediction of %BF (R2 = 0.83, RMSE = 3.87). When cross-validated, the corresponding PRESS statistic for the reduced and full model was 4.10 and 3.90, respectively. These results suggest that %BF can be predicted with greater precision and accuracy in a college-aged population when MET-hrswk-1 are included in addition to BMI, gender, and race.

The importance of images as a means of persuasion in advertisements, with few exceptions, has been viewed as secondary to copy (text) in advertisements. Even though images play an important part in the communication of messages for fashion apparel, research to develop an understanding of how images influence consumers is needed. Hypotheses were developed to test the proposition that viewersâ level of advertisement and fashion involvement would be moderated by type of advertisement treatment for a fashion product considered controversial: (1) copy and image, (2) copy only, and (3) image only. <br> Involvement, as a state that can be measured along a continuum, served as the theoretical framework. The Revised Personal Involvement Inventory (RPII) was used to measure advertisement involvement. The Fashion Involvement Index (FII) was used to measure fashion involvement as a function of product involvement. Both scales had dimensions that provided additional information to test an overall state of involvement. <br> A mail survey was conducted of a sample of 1,200 women with intended household income of $75,000 or higher, living in eight major metropolitan areas of the United States. The response rate was 23%. In general, the respondents were highly educated; over 30 years of age; white, not of Hispanic origin; married; full-time employed professionals; and affluent. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression (MR) and Pearson correlation analyses. Variation in advertisement treatment produced no moderating effects on involvement with the advertisement. Age was the only demographic characteristic found to moderate the relationship between fashion involvement and involvement with the advertisement as measured on the pleasure dimension of the RPII. There were significant relationships between fashion involvement and ownership of leather products and between level of advertisement involvement and ownership of leather products. Results also showed significant relationships between fashion involvement and media exposure and between advertisement involvement and media exposure. Results in this study contribute to an understanding of the role of images in print advertisements for fashion apparel and further support the external validity of advertisement involvement as measured by the RPII and fashion involvement theory as measured by the FII.

The purpose of the study was to measure the current level of communicative initiations exhibited by children enrolled in the LSU preschool program. Child communication was categorized as specific, unclear, or negative. These descriptors referred to peers ability to interpret the target childs communication. Additionally, peer responses were recorded as either positive or negative based on their reaction to the target childs communication. Children identified with either low levels of communicative initiation or unclear/negative communications were targeted for the intervention. Single-subject research methods were used to record each childs communicative behaviors. A least-to-most assistive prompting (Horner & Keilitz, 1975) intervention was applied as teacher mediation in the form of coaching. All three children demonstrated an increase in their specific communication toward peers when the LtM teacher prompting intervention was applied; additionally, increases in positive peer responses were also observed.

In a teacher-directed activity, such as whole group, children can learn new skills by following the teachers directions and/or model the teachers behaviors. The National Association for the Education of Young Children Developmentally Appropriate Practices provides several recommended practices for creating a community of learners. When teachers follow these strategies they are providing multiple opportunities to engage children (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). When used appropriately, whole group instruction can be very effective when teaching and can be used at various times of the day. Whole group instruction builds a sense of community among the classroom. The purpose of this study is two fold: 1) to establish normative data to determine typical levels of correspondence with recommended practice and typical levels of child task engagement during whole group instruction 2) to modify the whole group activity to determine if child task engagement is impacted. This identifies the levels of task engagement of children during whole group instruction, while concurrently describing the whole group instruction in terms of recommended practice for preschool. The purpose is to determine if the identified criteria for recommended practice in whole group instruction will impact child task engagement during this activity. The settings for the targeted classrooms were three preschool classrooms. Each of the three classrooms was selected based on their performance as compared to the normative data in Phase One. These three classrooms had the highest amount of children exhibiting low levels of task engagement and low number of recommended practice for whole group instruction. Results indicated that when each of the teachers increased their adherence to the recommended practice in whole group instruction, childrens task engagement was observed to increase.

Resistant starch (RS) is fermentable dietary fiber. It has been shown that inclusion of resistant starch in the diet causes decreased body fat accumulation and altered gut hormone profile. Gut hormone has complex effect on neuropeptides expression in the brain hypothalamic area which is regarded as key factors in regulation of energy homeostasis. In this project, thereby, it is proposed that 1) the hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY), agouti-related peptide (AgRP) and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression may be altered by RS feeding; 2) afferent vagal nerves might be involved in this process. Animal experiment was conducted to investigate the hypothesis. The rats were injected intraperitoneally with capsaicin to destroy unmyelinated small vagal afferent nerve fibers. The cholecystokinin food suppression test was performed to validate the effectiveness of the capsaicin treatment. Then, capsaicin treated rats and vehicle treated rats were subdivided into a control diet or a resistant starch diet group, and fed the corresponding diet for 65 days. At the end of study, body fat, food intake, plasma peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide -1 (GLP-1), and hypothalamic pro-opiomelanocortin, neuropeptide Y, agouti-related peptide gene expressions were measured. Resistant starch fed rats had decreased body fat, increased POMC expression in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, and elevated plasma PYY and GLP-1 in both the capsaicin and vehicle treated rats. Hypothalamic NPY, AgRP gene expressions and food intake were not changed by resistant starch or capsaicin. Therefore, destruction of the capsaicin sensitive afferent nerves did not alter the response to resistant starch in rats. The conclusion is that dietary resistant starch might reduce body fat through increasing the hypothalamic POMC expression and vagal afferent nerves are not involved in this process.

Obesity is one of the most pressing public health concerns in Louisiana. There are numerous reasons believed to be major contributors to the obesity epidemic, one of which is dietary habits. The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify the dietary patterns of southern Louisiana residents. A self administered, semi-quantitative questionnaire was used. Subjects (n=308) were recruited from Louisiana State University (LSU). Results suggested that it is possible to describe the dietary patterns of a southern Louisiana population. Compared to whites, the percentage of African Americans who were served or consumed fried fish, rice, red beans and rice, and fried chicken was significantly higher. Men were more likely to have consumed or been served fried chicken, hamburgers, steak, and meatloaf compared to women. The most frequently consumed or served foods included breakfast cereal, luncheon meat sandwiches, spaghetti, vegetables, baked chicken and wild game meat. Results from this study could be used to develop diets, nutrition education material, and interventions that are tailored specifically to this region.

The study examined the possibility of relationships between caregiver sensitivity across multiple caregivers during the childs first three years of life and both childrens later perceived peer acceptance and childrens later perceived maternal acceptance. Data were collected from 26 children, aged between 5 and 8-years old, and the 32 unique caregivers that the children had experienced during their first 36 months in child care. Assessments were made using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPC, Harter & Pike, 1984) and the Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS, Arnett, 1989). Correlations were calculated among the 7 primary variables for the children: number of unique caregivers, number of snapshots (i.e., points of time at which caregiver data was collected), age in months at testing, peer acceptance, maternal acceptance, average level of caregiver sensitivity, and rate of change of caregiver sensitivity. Significant positive correlations were found between perceived peer acceptance and perceived maternal acceptance. No statistically significant relationships were found among the remaining variables; that is, the measures of cumulative caregiver sensitivity did not predict the childrens later perceptions of peer acceptance or of maternal acceptance. Possible explanations for the absence of statistically significant relationships are discussed.