What Causes Specific Language Impairment in Children?

ABSTRACT— Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when a child's language development is deficient for no obvious reason. For many years, there was a tendency to assume that SLI was caused by factors such as poor parenting, subtle brain damage around the time of birth, or transient hearing loss. Subsequently it became clear that these factors were far less important than genes in determining risk for SLI. A quest to find "the gene for SLI" was undertaken, but it soon became apparent that no single cause could account for all cases. Furthermore, although fascinating cases of SLI caused by a single mutation have been discovered, in most children the disorder has a more complex basis, with several genetic and environmental risk factors interacting. The clearest evidence for genetic effects has come from studies that diagnosed SLI using theoretically motivated measures of underlying cognitive deficits rather than conventional clinical criteria.     

Mothers' Parenting and Young Economically Disadvantaged Children's Relational and Overt Bullying

We examined links between mothers' parenting and children's relational bullying and overt bullying in a sample of children attending a Head Start program. Mothers completed surveys and face-to-face interviews. Head Start teachers completed assessments on children. Results indicated that a small percentage of children in the sample was rated by teachers as engaging in relational bullying “frequently to almost always,” and slightly over half of the sample was rated by teachers as engaging in relational bullying “occasionally to about half of the time.” Similar results were found for the frequency with which children engaged in overt physical bullying. Regarding mothers' parenting, maternal empathy was most strongly correlated with both children's relational bullying and overt physical bullying. In addition, mothers' inappropriate developmental expectations for children and mothers' need to exert power over children rather than grant them independence were related to children's relational bullying. A composite variable for mothering predicted 11% of the variance in children's relational bullying. No gender differences were found for children's relational bullying and children's overt bullying.     

Men's preferences for women's profile waist‐to‐hip ratio,breast size,and ethnic group in Britain and South Africa

One particular aspect of the literature on preferences for female body shapes has focused on the purported universality of preferences for a low waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), despite substantial evidence of cross‐cultural variability in such preferences. In the present study, we examined the effects of manipulating women's profile WHR, breast size, and ethnicity on men's ratings of physical attractiveness and health. A total of 51 African men in South Africa, 56 British Africans, and 114 British Caucasians rated 12 line drawings that varied in two levels of ethnicity, three levels of WHR, and two levels of breast size. Overall, the results suggested that there were cross‐cultural differences in preferred body shape, with the preferred body configuration varying as a function of the ethnicity of the figure being rated. In addition, there was a strong positive correlation between ratings of attractiveness and health. These findings are discussed in relation to the interplay between culture and evolution in determining ideals of attractiveness.     

The theoretical and empirical links between bullying behavior and male sexual violence perpetration

Bullying experiences and male sexual violence (SV) perpetration are major public health problems, and while extant literature suggests that they may share some developmental correlates, there is no established empirical link between being a perpetrator or victim of bullying and SV perpetration in the literature. Nonetheless, some SV prevention programs in the U.S. include bullying prevention components for elementary and middle-school aged children. Research is needed to test the hypothesized links between bullying experiences and SV perpetration to determine whether bullying prevention programs are likely to prevent SV perpetration. The purpose of this paper is to present results from a review of research on each of these topics and to discuss the potential shared and unique risk and protective factors within a social-ecological framework. The paper concludes with suggested directions for future research.     

A randomized trial of skin cancer prevention in aquatics settings: the Pool Cool program.

Skin cancer is increasing, and prevention programs are essential. This study evaluated the impact of a skin cancer prevention program on sun-protection habits and swimming pool environments. The intervention included staff training; sun-safety lessons; interactive activities; providing sunscreen, shade, and signage; and promoting sun-safe environments. A randomized trial at 28 swimming pools in Hawaii and Massachusetts tested the efficacy of this program (Pool Cool) compared with an attention-matched injury-prevention control program. Results showed significant positive changes in children's use of sunscreen and shade, overall sun-protection habits, and number of sunburns and improvements in parents' hat use, sun-protection habits, and reported sun-protection policies and environments. Observations corroborated the positive findings. Pool Cool had significant positive effects at swimming pools in diverse audiences.