The Need to Consider Pregnancy As a Biological Variable to Reduce Preventable Suffering Related to Pregnancy.

Maternal morbidity and mortality constitute a national health crisis, and pain is a significant component of maternal morbidity. One important way to reduce maternal morbidity is to reduce the pain associated with pregnancy. Unfortunately, our understanding of how to reduce pain in women is hampered because, historically, mostly male subjects have been used in the study of pain. However, more recently, females increasingly have been included in pain research studies, and astounding differences in how males and females process pain have been uncovered. Moreover, pain in nonpregnant women differs in many ways from pain experienced by pregnant women. We argue here that to better address maternal morbidity, we must better address the pain associated with pregnancy. Furthermore, just as it is important to include both men and women in pain research to better understand pain in both sexes, conducting pain research in pregnant women is essential to finding ways to reduce pain in pregnant women.

Temperament in early childhood and peer interactions in third grade: the role of teacher-child relationships in early elementary grades.

Children's interactions with peers in early childhood have been consistently linked to their academic and social outcomes. Although both child and classroom characteristics have been implicated as contributors to children's success, there has been scant research linking child temperament, teacher-child relationship quality, and peer interactions in the same study. The purpose of this study is to examine children's early temperament, rated at preschool age, as a predictor of interactions with peers (i.e., aggression, relational aggression, victimization, and prosociality) in third grade while considering teacher-child relationship quality in kindergarten through second grades as a moderator and mediator of this association. The sample (N=1364) was drawn from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Results from structural equation models indicated that teacher-child conflict in early elementary grades mediated links between children's temperament and later peer interactions. Findings underscore the importance of considering children's temperament traits and teacher-child relationship quality when examining the mechanisms of the development of peer interactions.

Temperamental attention and activity, classroom emotional support, and academic achievement in third grade.

The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay of children's temperamental attention and activity (assessed when children were 4-and-a-half years old) and classroom emotional support as they relate to children's academic achievement in third grade. Particular focus is placed on the moderating role of classroom emotional support on the relationship between temperament (attention and activity level) and academic achievement. Regression analyses indicated that children's attention and activity level were associated with children's third grade reading and mathematics achievement, and classroom emotional support was associated with children's third grade reading and mathematics achievement. In addition, classroom emotional support moderated the relation between children's attention and reading and mathematics achievement, such that attention mattered most for reading and mathematics achievement for children in classrooms with lower emotional support. Findings point to the importance of understanding how children's temperament and classroom emotional support may work together to promote or inhibit children's academic achievement.