Evaluation of oligonucleotide probes for simple tandem repeats (STR) to produce informative DNA fingerprints of the chicken

Early intervention programs are designed to enhance the developmental competence of participants and to prevent or minimize developmental delays. Children targeted for early intervention may either include environmentally or biologically vulnerable children, or those with established developmental deficits. There is growing consensus based on the best available evidence that early interventions can exert moderate positive effects. However, this literature is limited by substantial methodological weaknesses in most studies. Therefore further randomized clinical trials are needed to ascertain which programs best meet the needs of children with or at risk for developmental disability.     

Drug-abuse prevention efforts for young children: a review and critique of existing programs

Children under age five are increasingly the target of formal interventions aimed at deterring subsequent drug abuse. These prevention efforts are characterized, however, by a lack of empirical research on the variables involved in inoculating very young children against later drug use, and the lack of assessments research demonstrating their effectiveness. Curriculum-based antidrug programs for preschool children are reviewed, and developmental and early intervention research is used as the basis of recommendations for strengthening such efforts.     

Child health in America: toward a rational public policy

Analysis of currently available data on mortality and morbidity indicates that the major organic illnesses of childhood, and their developmental consequences, are susceptible in part to the technical interventions of American medical science. Environmental forces, however, exert a powerful impact on the health of children in the United states, manifested both in the disproportionate toll of most organic diseases on poor and nonwhite populations and in such increasingly important symptoms of familial, social, and behavioral distress as child abuse, accidents, and childhood suicide. Review of the nature, quality, and distribution of child health services demonstrates a systemic inability to reach and treat the children most in need of them. A rational basis for child health policy includes: appropriate concepts of health, disease, and preventive and therapeutic intervention; a capacity to acknowledge, to measure, and to act on the familial and environmental, as well as the medical, sources of illness; an orientation to the developmental and social implications of good and poor child health; and a commitment to enable all children to receive health services. The data and this policy framework lead to these program recommendations: the channeling of resources into a more rational system which guarantees equity and access; a planning and program implementation mechanism which addresses the health needs of diverse local populations and which makes real the advocacy concept; a screening, evaluation, and surveillance methodology; a delivery system which both applies preventive and curative health technology and addresses basic life needs of children; and a coherent program for the training, assignment, and supervision of the several kinds of manpower which such a system would require.     

Remembering, forgetting, and the effects of trauma on memory: a developmental psychopathology perspective

A developmental psychopathology framework, with its emphasis on an interdisciplinary perspective, the interplay between work conducted with normal and atypical populations, and its focus on investigating functioning in multiple domains of development concurrently, possesses significant potential for advancing work on memory and trauma. A brief historical overview of memory and trauma is provided. Significant issues are highlighted that must be confronted in order to advance the understanding of the effects of trauma on memory and the utility of a developmental psychopathology perspective for informing research efforts is examined. The implications of a developmental psychopathology perspective for guiding research, clinical, and social policy initiatives of relevance to trauma and memory are discussed.     

The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments: Lessons from research on successful children.

The development of competence holds great interest for parents and society alike. This article considers implications from research on competence and resilience in children and adolescents for policy and interventions designed to foster better outcomes among children at risk. Foundations of competence in early development are discussed, focusing on the role of attachment relationships and self-regulation. Results from studies of competence in the domains of peer relations, conduct, school, work, and activities are highlighted. Lessons are drawn from studies of naturally occurring resilience among children at risk because of disadvantage or trauma and also from efforts to deliberately alter the course of competence through early childhood education and preventive interventions. Converging evidence suggests that the same powerful adaptive systems protect development in both favorable and unfavorable environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early childhood education and intervention: Establishing an American tradition.

Traces the influence of recent social, political, and economic forces on the evolution of American early childhood education. Since the learning experiences of young children affect development in major domains of their behavior, it is no surprise that contemporary early education practices have been shaped by the knowledge base of developmental psychology. Project Head Start, a massive federal social experiment, is represented as a fertile spawning ground for alternative models of early intervention, psychoeducational remediation, and preschool education. Psychologists are urged to continue their participation in the early education enterprise. The author shares some reflections that might give direction to these efforts. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socioeconomic determinants of health. Children, inequalities, and health

This article describes a growing body of evidence showing the adverse effects of the widening income gap on the health and welfare of children and young people. The effects of this go well beyond morbidity and mortality and can also be seen in the areas of crime, violence, and educational attainment. There is a need for evidence based policy in this area, but meanwhile there is scope for intervention in pregnancy and the early years, and good evidence that this is effective. A number of well evaluated interventions not necessarily directly related to health, such as early learning programmes and social support for parents, promise to have beneficial health effects.     

Joint attention and early social communication: implications for research on intervention with autism

Highly structured, intensive early intervention may lead to significant developmental gains for many children with autism. However, a clear understanding of early intervention effects may currently be hampered by a lack of precision in outcome measurement. To improve the precision and sensitivity of outcome assessment it may be useful to integrate research on the nature of the social disturbance of autism with research on early intervention. In this regard, it may be that measures of nonverbal social communication skills are especially important in the study of preschool intervention programs. This is because these measures appear to tap into a cardinal component of the early social disturbance of autism, and because these measures have been directly related to neurological, cognitive, and affective processes that may play a role in autism. The research and theory that support the potential utility of these types of measures for early intervention research are reviewed. Examples are provided to illustrate how these types of measures may assist in addressing current issues and hypotheses about early intervention with autism including the "recovery hypothesis," the "pivotal skill hypothesis," and the relative effectiveness of discrete trial versus incidental learning approaches to early intervention. A cybernetic model of autism is also briefly described in an effort to better understand one potential component of early psychoeducational treatment effects with children with autism.     

Allez jouer dehors! Contributions de l'environnement urbain au développement et au bien-être des enfants.

This article brings together knowledge from environmental, community, developmental and health psychology for two purposes: The first is to examine the influence of the urban environment on children's wellness and on how children benefit from their environment to play and develop. The second objective presents recommendations regarding intervention, research and social policy for psychologists to follow favouring children's development within the urban environment. We focus on two urban environments: Spaces adjoining their residence provide children with stimulation, opportunities to run around, play and explore the physical and social world, develop personal identity, self-esteem and enhance their ability to deal with stress. The second urban environment we focus on are playgrounds, which can also serve children's physical, cognitive and social developmental needs. Physical, cognitive and psychological limitations make children vulnerable to traffic accidents. The article continues with the presentation of an action plan. There are a number of ways to increase place attachment and sense of belonging within the neighborhood so that children can play safely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using a model of transactional developmental regulation to evaluate the effectiveness of an early intervention programme for pre-school children with motor impairments

This study investigates how early intervention programme benefits may operate beyond the traditional parameters of child developmental progress by exploring family outcomes too. Sameroff and Fiese's (1990) model of transactional developmental regulation is applied to provide a conceptual framework for the evaluation of an interdisciplinary intervention programme for pre-school children with motor impairments. Qualitative and quantitative methods were combined by using standardized assessment of child progress and interviews. Fifteen children, 11 mothers and five staff participated in the study. Triangulation of data was carried out to obtain evidence of remediation (child progress), re-education (parent learning) and redefinition (changes in parental perceptions and expectations of their child's difficulties that allowed parents to apply usual, rather than special, caregiving practices) as described in Sameroff and Fiese's model. Findings point to the effectiveness of the programme as indicated by evidence of child developmental progress, parental re-education and redefinition. The study suggests that redefinition may be at least as important a programme outcome as remediation or re-education, challenging established notions of the goals of pre-school programmes for disabled children. Implications of a broader-based, family-focused approach are discussed.     

Community empowerment paradigm drift and the primary prevention of HIV/AIDS

Long discussed in the public health arena, the concept of empowerment has only recently entered the discourse on the primary prevention of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Despite its broad appeal, empowerment has not been systematically incorporated into theory-based interventions, which may reflect a lack of consensus on the meaning of empowerment, how to measure it, and the intervention strategies it implies. The purpose of this paper is to consider the relevance of empowerment to community interventions for persons at risk for HIV, particularly women. The origins of empowerment are reviewed; community empowerment as an intervention framework is described and its core assumptions defined. There is some evidence of the growing influence of empowerment and related concepts in recent HIV-related policy, research, and programs funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, adoption of an empowerment framework for HIV prevention will require further theory and measurement development, as well as changes in how public health researchers and practitioners work with the communities they serve.     

Mediators and moderators of a psychosocial intervention for children affected by political violence.

Objective: The authors examined moderators and mediators of a school-based psychosocial intervention for children affected by political violence, according to an ecological resilience theoretical framework. Method: The authors examined data from a cluster randomized trial, involving children aged 8–13 in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia (treatment condition n = 182, waitlist control condition n = 221). Mediators (hope, coping, peer/emotional/play social support) and moderators (gender, age, family connectedness, household size, other forms of social support, exposure to political violence, and displacement) of treatment outcome on posttraumatic stress symptoms and function impairment were examined in parallel process latent growth curve models. Results: Compared with the waitlist group, those receiving treatment showed maintained hope, increased positive coping, maintained peer social support, and increased play social support. Of these putative mediators, only play social support was found to mediate treatment effects, such that increases in play social support were associated with smaller reductions in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Furthermore, the authors identified a number of moderators: Girls showed larger treatment benefits on PTSD symptoms; girls, children in smaller households, and children receiving social support from adults outside the household showed larger treatment benefits on function impairment. Conclusions: Findings provide limited evidence for an ecological resilience theoretical framework. On the basis of these findings, the authors recommend a stronger separation between universal prevention (e.g., resilience promotion through play) and selective/indicated prevention (e.g., interventions aimed at decreasing posttraumatic stress symptoms). Play-based interventions should be careful to exclude children with psychological distress. In addition, treatment effects may be augmented by selecting girls and socially vulnerable children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interventions for children of divorce: Toward greater integration of research and action.

A number of child-, family-, and system-focused interventions have been designed to prevent or reduce the negative effects of divorce on children. This article critically evaluates these intervention efforts by examining (1) their relation to basic research on the processes proposed to mediate children's postdivorce adjustment and (2) evaluation studies assessing the effectiveness of various programs. Although interventions address some of the factors proposed to mediate children's adaptation to divorce, the interplay between interventions and basic research on children's postdivorce adaptation is limited. Moreover, some intervention efforts appear to be beneficial but most lack empirical documentation of their efficacy. This analysis leads to several recommendations for basic and applied research and for improving the response of the mental health field to the problems experienced by many children from divorcing families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is the behavior of academic change agents controlled metaphysically? An analysis of the behavior of those who change behavior.

Outlines a heuristic framework for understanding the behavior of academic change agents within natural laws of behavior, and conceptualizing treatment integrity as generalization. After examination of basic premises about change agents and the ecology of academic interventions, empirical examples are provided that illustrate current problems in promoting intervention fidelity. The structure for understanding the ecological control of change agent behavior is presented; including a review of relevant ecological concepts for change agents, a conceptualization of the different levels of change agents and their interrelationships, and the relevance of current technical models of generalization for understanding the behavior of those who attempt to change behavior of children. Factors related to change agents that need to be considered in academic intervention are summarized and recommendations for future research are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L. S. Vygotsky and contemporary developmental psychology.

Central themes from L. S. Vygotsky's writings that have particular relevance for contemporary developmental psychology are outlined, and these ideas are extended in light of recent theoretical advances in the social sciences and humanities. The discussion focuses primarily on Vygotsky's claims about the social origins and social nature of higher (i.e., uniquely human) mental functioning and on his understanding of culture. His claims about the social origins of individual mental functioning have implications for the definition of terms such as "cognition" and "memory" as well as for how empirical research on these processes can be pursued. His understanding of culture is shown to be derivative of his account of the "psychological tools" that mediate human mental functioning. It is argued that efforts need to be made to elaborate a notion of culture within a Vygotskian framework that takes into account contemporary ideas and findings in the social sciences and humanities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Violent children: Bridging development, intervention, and public policy.

Childhood violence is a major public health and social policy concern in the United States. Scientists and policymakers alike have increasingly turned their attention to the causes of childhood violence and the extent to which its course can be modified through well-planned preventive interventions. However, it is not apparent that policymakers draw upon basic research findings in formulating their priorities and policies, nor is it apparent that developmental scientists incorporate policy considerations and prevention findings into their research frameworks and designs. The goal of this special issue on violent children is to begin to bridge the gaps among basic developmental science, prevention science, and public policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When interventions harm: Peer groups and problem behavior.

This article explored developmental and intervention evidence relevant to iatrogenic effects in peer-group interventions. Longitudinal research revealed that "deviancy training" within adolescent friendships predicts increases in delinquency, substance use, violence, and adult maladjustment. Moreover, findings from 2 experimentally controlled intervention studies suggested that peer-group interventions increase adolescent problem behavior and negative life outcomes in adulthood, compared with control youth. The data from both experimental studies suggested that high-risk youth are particularly vulnerable to peer aggregations, compared with low-risk youth. We proposed that peer aggregation during early adolescence, under some circumstances, inadvertently reinforces problem behavior. Two developmental processes are discussed that might accounts fro the powerful iatrogenic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advancing disability policy: Opportunities and obstacles.

This article highlights opportunities for psychologists to advance disability policy. Obstacles discussed include disabling attitudes, lack of knowledge, and financial interests. The article calls for increased involvement of consumers in research design and greater emphasis on research related to social participation and environmental accommodation for persons with a disability. The need for advocacy in promoting adequate research funding and informing policymakers regarding research findings is emphasized. Continued efforts are needed to broaden psychology training to include more content regarding the social and environmental aspects of disability. Active recruitment into psychology training programs of students with a disability can enhance these efforts. The development of psychological interventions in collaboration with consumer-run organizations is a useful model. Public policies related to reimbursement for services will require continued advocacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)