Early Childhood Care Trends and Associations with Child Health Well-being in China: Evidence from the CHNS 1991 to 2011 Data

It has become increasingly common for young children to be taken care of by multiple caregivers in China after the socio-economic reforms. Complex migration patterns and high female labour force participation have led to children receiving care from various individuals in different contexts. However, little is known about how childcare arrangements are associated with child health well-being. This study examines various early childhood caregivers and their influences on children’s physical health in China. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS 1991–2011) with 3,470 children aged 2 to 6, we first identified different types of childcare arrangements in and outside of the household based on who provides the care, where they provide the care, and the intensity of the care. Then we examined the relationship between various childcare arrangements and health outcomes for children. Overall, household members undertook early childhood care tasks in China, with an increase in grandparents as primary caregivers between 1991 and 2011. The proportion of children receiving formal childcare fluctuated around 20% during this period. The findings suggest that: 1) primary caregiver in the household other than parents is not associated with undesirable physical health outcomes; 2) formal childcare outside the household is associated with higher height and lower BMI scores; 3) primary caregivers in the household, particular grandparents, moderate the association between childcare arrangements outside the household and children’s health outcomes. It yields an implication that early childhood care policies incorporating multiple caregivers would benefit children’s well-being in China.

     

Parents’ Attachment Styles and Adolescents’ Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy: The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents in China

Guided by attachment theory, this longitudinal study examined the mediating role of parent-adolescent attachment on the relation between parents’ attachment styles and adolescents’ regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE, including managing negative affect and expressing positive affect). Five hundred seventy-three Chinese junior high school students (46% male; aged 11–14 years, M = 12.76 years, SD = 0.74) completed measures of RESE at T1, parent-adolescent attachment at T2 (six months later), and RESE at T3 (another six months later), while 573 students’ parents (one student only has a parent, 241 fathers and 332 mothers) completed measures of adult attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance) at T1. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that father-adolescent attachment mediated the association between fathers’ attachment anxiety and adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative affect, while mother-adolescent attachment marginally mediated the relation between mothers’ attachment anxiety and adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative affect and expressing positive affect. These findings suggest that parents’ attachment anxiety could predict their children’s attachment to parents, in turn, impacting their children’s regulatory emotional self-efficacy.

     

Through a Spiritual Lens: Early Childhood Inclusive Education in Hong Kong

The main purpose of this research was to explore early childhood education teachers’, principals’, and parents’ perceptions of the role of spirituality in the lives of children with special needs, and how educators and schools can support the spiritual development of these children. Three preschools, the Buddhist, Christian, and Waldorf schools, were purposefully selected on the basis that each of them reflects a philosophy that includes the spiritual. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) the influence of the schools’ religion and/or spiritual orientations on inclusion; (b) support provided for the spiritual development of children with special needs; and (c) the role of spirituality in the lives of children with special needs. By drawing attention to and offering a preliminary study on early childhood inclusion and spirituality, I hope to encourage more scholars and educators to engage with research and debate on this important yet under-studied dimension of early childhood education.     

Different “routes” to a cognitive map: dissociable forms of spatial knowledge derived from route and cartographic map learning

An important, but as yet incompletely resolved, issue is whether spatial knowledge acquired during navigation differs significantly from that acquired by studying a cartographic map. This, in turn, is relevant to understanding the generalizability of the concept of a “cognitive map,” which is often likened to a cartographic map. On the basis of previous theoretical proposals, we hypothesized that route and cartographic map learning would produce differences in the dynamics of acquisition of landmark-referenced (allocentric) knowledge, relative to view-referenced (egocentric) knowledge. We compared this model with competing predictions from two other models linked to route versus map learning. To test these ideas, participants repeatedly performed a judgment of relative direction (JRD) and a scene- and orientation-dependent pointing (SOP) task while undergoing route and cartographic map learning of virtual spatial environments. In Experiment 1, we found that map learning led to significantly faster improvements in JRD pointing accuracy than did route learning. In Experiment 2, in contrast, we found that route learning led to more immediate and greater improvements overall in SOP accuracy, as compared to map learning. Comparing Experiments 1 and 2, we found a significant three-way interaction effect, indicating that improvements in performance differed for the JRD versus the SOP task as a function of route versus map learning. We interpreted these findings as suggesting that the learning modality differentially affects the dynamics of how we utilize primarily landmark-referenced versus view-referenced knowledge, suggesting potential differences in how we utilize spatial representations acquired from routes versus cartographic maps.     

汉语形容词的性别编码及其对句子加工的影响

该研究采用图片启动和句子完成范式,考察汉语形容词的性别编码及对句子加工的影响.结果表明：（1）图片的性别信息对形容词性向判断具有重要影响;（2）形容词性向影响被试对句子主语的选择.被试倾向于选择与形容词性向一致的代词为句子主语.对中性形容词,被试选择句子主语的时间更长.整个研究表明,在汉语形容词加工中存在性别编码.     

教育编辑胜任力模型的构建与验证

根据教育出版社编辑工作特征,运用调查研究法、特尔菲(Delphi)专家评价法等,编制了编辑胜任力调查量表,通过对分布在全国的7个教育出版社301名编辑问卷测试,并对测试数据采用因素分析与验证分析的方法进行了系统分析,建构了教育编辑胜任力模型。研究结果表明,教育编辑胜任力主要由工作取向、自我取向、人际取向3方面8个因子构成。本研究为教育出版社的优秀编辑的培养、选拔及测评方面提供了新的理论依据。     

词切分对语文学优生与学困生阅读影响的眼动研究

采用EyeLink II眼动仪,以小学二年级语文学优生和学困生为被试,考察词切分对句子阅读的影响.实验设置四种空格呈现条件:正常无空格条件、字间空格条件、词间空格条件和非词空格条件.研究表明:(1)小学二年级学生阅读词间空格文本、字间空格文本和正常无空格文本效果相同.(2)与语文学优生相比,学困生阅读任何条件的句子需要更多的注视时间和注视次数.非词空格呈现条件对学困生的干扰更大,表明学困生更依赖文本的低水平信息.文章最后探讨了汉语阅读的基本信息单元问题.     

类别学习多重系统理论的研究与展望

介绍了国外学者为验证类别学习的多重系统理论所做的行为实验研究及主要结果,包括反馈训练、延迟反馈、反应位置、间断的类别刺激分布等因素对信息整合的类别学习的影响,和数字Stroop任务、序列记忆扫描任务、类别数量等因素对基于规则的类别学习的影响;同时,作者指出了实验中没有很好地解决两种类别结构之间的难度差异等问题,并提出了今后需要进一步研究的课题     

在“自然选择”与“自由王国”之间——实践、唯物史观与现代人的境遇(上)

在西方历史上,处于思想最高层的哲学与人们的现实生活似乎是两条平行线,直到马克思主义创始人的哲学通过实践的观点,揭示出它们之间的内在联系并使其发生交互作用。如果说人类现实的实践活动及其社会历史,就是从自然到自由并在两者之间循环往复,那么,孕育于其中的人类的思想理论特别是哲学,则是从经验到信仰并在这两者之间循环往复。因而,本文在论述社会实践作为从自然选择到自由王国的摆渡者的同时,就必定会关联着对唯物史观与现代人的命运的思考与探索。     

Overestimation and contraction biases of depth information stored in working memory depend on spatial configuration

Depth perception is essential for effective interaction with the environment. Although the accuracy of depth perception has been studied extensively, it is unclear how accurate the depth information is stored in working memory. In this study, we investigated the accuracy and systematic biases of depth representation by a delayed estimation task. The memory array consisted of items presented at various stereoscopic depth positions, and the participants were instructed to estimate the depth position of one target item after a retention interval. We examined the effect of spatial configuration by comparing the memory performance in the whole-display condition where non-target memory items were present during retrieval with that in the single-display condition where non-target memory items were absent. In the single-display condition, we found an overestimation bias that the depth estimates were farther than the corresponding depth positions defined by disparity, and a contraction bias that the stored depth positions near the observer were overestimated and those far from the observer were underestimated. The magnitude of these biases increased with the number of to-be-stored items. However, in the whole-display condition, the overestimation bias was corrected and the contraction bias did not increase with the number of to-be-stored items. Our findings suggested that the number of to-be-stored items could affect the accuracy of depth working memory, and its effect depended crucially on whether the information of spatial configuration of memory display was available at the retrieval stage.