ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the relationship between problem behaviorand father-child relationship in 4-6-year-oldchildren. Methods:Totally 102 children were recruited in a kindergarten in Beijing,with 36 aged four,36 aged five,30 aged six and 55 being boys and 47 being girls. Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)was used to measure preschoolers'problem behaviors,and Family Relations Index (FRI)was adopted to assess children's rela-tionship with their fathers. Results:There were 41,49,and 12 children being classified as negative,neutral and posi-tive father-child relation respectively. Kruskal-Wallis Test revealed that there was no significant difference in scores of 3 CBCL subtests and 8 factors (P>0. 05 )among 4-,5-,and 6-year-old children. Children with negative father-child relationship scored higher on CBCL problem behavior subtests than those with neutral father-child relationship[30. 5 (7. 0,58. 0)vs. 16. 0 (0. 0,69. 0),P<0. 05 ]. They alsoscored higher on withdrawn behavior than children with neutralor positive father-child relationship [3. 0 (0. 0,4. 0)vs. 1. 0 (0. 0,6. 0),1. 0 (0. 0,4. 0),P<0. 05] . Mann-Whitney U Test manifested that boys scored higher in attention problem than girls (P<0. 0 1 ),but no gen-der difference was found in the other problem behaviors. Kruskal-Wallis Test showed that boys with negative father-child relationship scored higher than those with neutral father-child relationship on problem behavior subtest,anxie-ty-depression,attention problem,and internalized problem (Ps<0. 05 ). Boys with negative father-child relationship scored higher than those with neutraland positivefather-child relationship on withdrawn behavior (Ps <0. 05 ). No difference was found whether in CBCL subtests or problem behavior factors for girls with different types of father-child relationship. Conclusion:It suggests that the children with negative father-child relationship display more problem behavior and withdrawn symptoms;boys have more attention problems than girls;compared with girls, boys'problem behavior may be more closely related to therelationship with their father.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate children' s understanding of food,nutrition and its relation to health.Methods Participants were interviewed individually,various experimental tasks were used to explore 5-9 year old children' s spontaneous classification of familiar food and their understanding of food balance.Results Five-year-old children rely more than elders on physical cues.There was significant age difference of their criterion of classification among physical (H_((2))=12.929,P ＜ 0.01),conventional (H_((2))=5.540,P=0.063)land processing criterion(H_((2))=6.076,P＜ 0.05).There was significant SES difference of their choices(X_((1))~2=5.857,P=0.016 ; X_((1))~2=4.510,P=0.034 in two different tasks).Higher SES children tended to choose balanced food(percentage of choosing balanced food in higher SES group was 75.0% ,93.8% ;45.2% ,74.2% in lower SES group).Conclusion The criterion children used is related to their cognitive development and experience.As they become older,more and more children realize the nutritional value of foods.There were a significant age difference in nutrition-balanced food choice ,and children's social economic status influence their performance.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the development of children's understanding the probabilities of the causes of illness.Methods 120 5-to 9-year-old children were interviewed via open-ended items and forced choices about illness. Results There were statistical significance in their understanding of the probabilities of the causes of illness and their strategies of prediction among the three groups(χ2(2)= 50.134,P ＜0.01;χ2(6)= 95.781, P ＜0.01);in addition, there was statistical significance between the two educational backgrounds (χ2(1)= 11.162, P ＜0.01;χ2(3)= 35.043, P ＜0.01). Conclusion Some preschool-aged children viewed outcomes of familiar causes of illness as probabilistic. The children's understanding of the causes' probabilities appeared to be based on naive biology. 5- to 9-year-old children made probabilistic predictions from a single cause to multiple causes. Children coming from higher educational backgrounds outperformed their counterparts coming from lower educational backgrounds with respect to understanding illness.