Sleep problems during early and late infancy: Diverse impacts on child development trajectories across multiple domains.

OBJECTIVE: Child developmental rate holds predictive value for early-stage developmental trajectories, yet few studies explored how sleep problems during different infancy stages impact this rate. This study aims to investigate the correlation between sleep problems and child developmental trajectories. METHODS: This study utilized a prospective national cohort of 5006 children in Taiwan. The developmental inventories covering motor, cognitive, language, and socioemotional domains were collected through questionnaire-based in-person home interviews conducted at 3, 12, 24, and 36 months. Sleep problems data, encompassing bedtime regularity, sleep duration, and sleep quality, were collected at 3 and 12 months. Child developmental rate was assessed by analyzing the slope of developmental ability estimates over a period of time. RESULTS: Bedtime regularity and high-quality sleep at 3 and 12 months were found to be significantly associated with intercepts across all domains (estimate = -0.196∼0.233, p < 0.033). Children with high-quality sleep at 3 months showed enhanced developmental slopes in socioemotional domains (estimate = 0.032, p < 0.001). Atypical sleep duration at 3 and 12 months had differential detrimental association with child development in various domains (estimate = -0.108∼-0.016, p < 0.048). CONCLUSION: The relationship between sleep problems and child development exhibited variability based on the timing of exposure to these issues. Early exposure to low-quality sleep was significantly related to developmental functions and socioemotional developmental rate, potentially leading to increased developmental disparities as children age. Inadequate sleep duration in late infancy and excessive sleep duration in early infancy were both negatively associated with child development trajectories. Policymakers can use these findings to design targeted sleep programs for optimal child development.

Differential longitudinal effects of frequent sweetened food consumption at different exposure ages on child cognitive, language, and motor development.

BACKGROUND: Evidence reveals frequent sugar consumption worsens cognition in animal models, and similar effects on child development are probable. We aimed to investigate the influence of sweetened foods (SFs) on child developmental trajectories. METHODS: The prospective cohort recruited 3-month-old children in Taiwan from 1st April 2016 to 30th June 2017. Developmental inventories including cognitive, language, and motor domains, were measured at the age of 3-,12-, 24-, and 36 months old via in-person interviews. We constructed latent growth models with covariates to estimate the influence of SFs on child development. RESULTS: Ultimately, 4782 children (50.7% boys) were included in the statistical analysis. In the cognitive domain, consumption at one year of age significantly affected the intercept, but not the linear slope and quadratic term (intercept: estimate = -0.054, p < .001); consumption at two years of age significantly affected the intercept and quadratic term (intercept: estimate = -0.08, p < .001; quadratic term: estimate = -0.093, p = .026), but not the linear slope. In the language domain, only consumption at two years of age significantly affected the intercept (estimate = -0.054, p < .001). In the motor domain, consumption at two years of age significantly affected the linear slope and quadratic term (estimate = 0.080, p = .011 and estimate = -0.082, p = .048, respectively). CONCLUSION: We found SFs exposure at different times has different negative effects on child development. Early exposure to SFs harmed children's cognitive function. Relatively late exposure to SFs not only deteriorated children's cognitive and language abilities but also decelerated developmental velocity in cognitive and motor domains.

Purpose Trajectories During Middle Adolescence: The Roles of Family, Teacher, and Peer Support.

While studies on youth's purpose have flourished in the last two decades, the work was mostly cross-sectional and derived from Western settings. This research examined the developmental trajectories of purpose exploration and commitment of Taiwanese youth during middle adolescence, with a focus on how they associate with youth's psychological functioning in terms of life satisfaction and depressive symptoms and whether social support moderates such development. A total of 369 vocational high school students in Taiwan (45% females; Mage = 15.82 years) participated in a four-wave study spanning two years with a one-semester interval. The results of piecewise growth curve modeling in the context of structural equation modeling suggested that purpose commitment increased over 10th grade, decreased initially in 11th grade, and then continued to increase. Purpose exploration similarly increased over 10th grade, but after the initial 11th grade dip remained stable. In addition to the higher initial levels, the steeper the rate of purpose exploration and commitment ascent and the slighter the rate of reduction predicted enhanced youth life satisfaction. The trajectory of purpose commitment also predicted reduced depressive symptoms, but such effects did not occur for purpose exploration. Moreover, multi-group analyses revealed that the more family, teacher, and peer support youth perceived, the more likely youth explored and committed to purpose over time.

Degrees of Shortage and Uncovered Ratios for Long-Term Care in Taiwan's Regions: Evidence from Dynamic DEA.

The government is facing the country's aging population and low birth rate have led to a severe shortage of its healthcare workforce in Taiwan after 2003. In order to explore the status of the country's degree of long-term care shortage and uncovered ratio, this research uses the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) theory to explain long-term care efficiency during 2010-2019 in each city and county. We collect longitudinal-sectional data for 2010-2019 from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Department of Statistics for 22 administrative regions in Taiwan in each year and employ dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the overall technical efficiency and the disaggregate output insufficiency to explain the research results. The main findings are as follows: (1) Cities near the capital Taipei have the highest degree of shortages in long-term caregivers and high uncovered ratios of people who need long-term care. (2) Presently, there is no demand to increase the number of long-term care institutions in Taiwan. (3) The government should introduce new long-term care certificates through national examinations in order to develop a stronger professional workforce in this field.

Diverged Preferences towards Sustainable Development Goals? A Comparison between Academia and the Communication Industry.

To understand how the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are involved and cited in different fields, the current study aimed to explore the key SDGs and SDG-pairs from the viewpoints of academia and the media. The academic publications with SDG(s)-related keywords in the Scopus database and the entry videos of the "2018 SDG Lions" were collected and analyzed through content and network analysis. It was found that SDG 3 and SDG 10 shared the highest preferences in both industries, but apparent gaps happened to SDG 5. The tied frequencies of the possible SDG pairs were also examined, and SDG 3-10 was identified taking the lead in both industries. Network analysis using degree centrality as the vital parameter demonstrated that SDG 8 and SDG 5 has strong connections with several SDGs for the academia and the media, respectively. The SDG-2-6-7 combination or "water-energy-food" nexus was also found the most frequent combination of three SDGs in the academia. Overall, SDG 3 can be treated as a unifying theme when seeking to acquire evidence-based knowledge for integrated implementation of the SDGs. Important implications for policy-making of the SDGs were also discussed.