Drawing on Bakhtinian dialogism and interactional sociolinguistics, the author explored how young English language learners become writers over time. With a focus on the children’s dialogic writing processes rather than their products, the author aimed to trace the children’s journey in becoming writers and make evident the evolvement of their identity as writers. In this light, their interactive discourses within and across particular but connected literacy events were studied. Discourse analysis was undertaken on the video segments and transcripts of three literacy events selected from different writing units across an academic year. It was found that the young writers evolved from “others as authors,” to “self as an author,” and to “self as a reflective writer” and the process of becoming a writer was ongoing and actively engaged multiple voices of the children, their teacher, and others. Further, the findings suggested that the dialogic becoming processes opened possibilities for young writers to discover and bring their different voices and selves to their writing and enhanced motivation relative to learning to write and writing to learn.

The state of Tennessee was the ideal place to implement Pre-K programs because of the number of children living in poverty, health-care issues, and student’s poor performances on academic measures. This chapter will explore the development of Pre-K, the use of pilot programs, the major expansions, and the period of sustainment. The fi nal section will identify lessons learned and recommendations for expansion of quality Pre-K programs for all young children.

Maternal depression is a robust risk factor for heightened internalizing symptoms in offspring. Studies also suggest that maternal depression is associated with greater maternal emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. However, emotion regulation has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, and few studies have identified specific components of ER related to maternal depression and the role these components may play in the relationship between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms. Mothers (n = 73) of young children (ages 4–9; 42 females), recruited from both clinical and community settings, reported their depression symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties. Children’s internalizing symptoms were assessed using both parental report and a semi-structured clinical interview. Regression analyses revealed that maternal depression symptoms were positively related to maternal ER, specifically, limited access to emotion regulation strategies and non-acceptance of emotional responses. Structural equation models revealed that the relation between maternal depression and child internalizing problems was mediated only through mother’s limited access to emotion regulation strategies. Our findings offer new insight for targeting mothers’ limited access to emotion strategies as a novel early intervention method to help break the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms from mother to child.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The significance of malnutrition in public health has increasingly gained recognition in South Africa due to its negative effect on the quality of life, both at the individual and societal levels. The most vulnerable groups to suffer from malnutrition are pregnant and lactating women as well as children below 5 years of age. Given the importance of maternal and child health, this study is set out to assess the prevalence and trend of maternal and child malnutrition in South Africa. In addition to the health cost, there is also economic cost, resulting from malnutrition. Therefore, the association between malnutrition and labour force participation is of academic and policy interest due to the crucial role the labour force plays in stimulating economic growth.

Based on classic marital research of John Gottman, a popular notion exists that interpersonal relationships thrive when the number of positive interactions outweighs negative interactions by a ratio of five to one. Though many have given similar advice for parents and caregivers, Gottman's findings and methodology may not generalize to relationships of parents and young children. Were similar ratio findings to be validated for parent-child relationships, explicit ratio advice may be incorporated as a component of clinical practice (e.g., behavioral parent training). To begin investigating potential clinical implications, a project was conducted that examined mothers' ability to achieve prescribed ratios following brief instruction. Baseline ratio levels for a small sample of nonclinical mother-child dyads were approximately one positive for every one negative. When instructed to attain a 5 to 1 ratio, all participants improved their ratios; half the sample achieved the target ratio. Mothers in the study altered their ratios primarily by boosting the number of positives they used with their children.

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The impact of the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center attacks was expansive in nature, and so many people were deeply affected by this disaster. In the years following this attack, many researchers attempted to assess this level of impact. Data point to increased prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress and depressive symptomatology among adults and a variety of difficulties among children following trauma. Additionally, research has shown that geographic proximity to a traumatic event plays a role in identifying those with increased psychological distress. One's subjective experience of a traumatic event, and in particular, one's perception of threat to life, also appears to be important in the identification of those in need. Moreover, understanding the psychological effects of individuals who have experienced a traumatic event is essential to the effective screening and identification of those in need of mental health services. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the ability of geographic exposure and the perceived life threat to predict psychological outcomes in parents and their young children following the World Trade Center attacks in New York City. Additionally, the moderational roles of race/ethnicity and socio-economic status were also examined. Neither maternal geographic exposure nor perception of life threat significantly predicted mental health outcomes in mothers or their young children. However, socio-economic status significantly moderated the relationship between maternal geographic exposure and children's externalizing behaviors. Finally, the effect of race/ethnicity approached significance for maternal PTSD symptoms; however, no significant moderation was found. / Master of Science