For more than a decade, the Foundation for Child Development, through the Young Scholars Program (YSP), funded studies about the early education, health, and well-being of children from low-income, immigrant families. Through YSP, the Foundation aimed to fill a gap in policy and practice-relevant research on young immigrant children. It invested…

Three studies examined the communication of naïve theories of social groups in conversations between parents and their 4-year-old children (N = 48). Parent-child dyads read and discussed a storybook in which they either explained why past social interactions had occurred (Study 1) or evaluated whether future social interactions should occur…

This study investigated how Chinese immigrant mothers in the USA make meaning of their parenting styles and practices in rearing their young children (aged two to six). Twelve Chinese immigrant mothers were interviewed. A key finding reveals that the Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting practices reflected the indigenous concept of jiaoyang in the…

Many young children pass through a stage of gender appearance rigidity; girls insist on wearing dresses, often pink and frilly, whereas boys refuse to wear anything with a hint of femininity. In 2 studies, we investigated the prevalence of this apparent hallmark of early gender development and its relation to children's growing identification with…

The child population in the United States is rapidly changing and diversifying--in large part because of immigration. Today, nearly one in four US children under the age of 18 is the child of an immigrant. While research has focused on the largest of these groups (Latinos and Asians), far less academic attention has been paid to the changing Black…

Noncompliance is a primary reason parents seek services for their young children. Research on socialization suggests that warning children about consequences is associated with greater compliance. In the current study, we test whether promised consequences (i.e., promises of parental responses to subsequent child behavior), compared with…

Two articles comprise this publication. In "Beyond the Story-Book Ending: Literature for Young Children About Parental Estrangement and Loss," Megan Matt analyzes over 30 books for young children on the topics of abandonment, estrangement, divorce, and foster care. She observes that this loss might appear as an event within the story or…

Head Start stresses the partnership between the family and the early childhood program, a relationship that is becoming increasing important in a society where more women are entering the labor force and the number of children receiving non-familial child care continues to rise. This study sought to answer two questions: (1) Are there parents who…

The authors summarize previous research and report the results of their study on young children's television and video viewing habits. Previous studies confirm that children under 2 years spend a significant amount of time engaging with television and videos and are highly attentive to them. Attentiveness is contingent on age; for instance, one…

This report presents findings from the first phase of a study by the Research Center of the Child Welfare League of children receiving service in their homes, the nature of the service and its outcome. This initial phase related to factors associated with the choice of own home service or placement for children on whose behalf service was sought…

Two surveys, one qualitative and one quantitative, were conducted of the opinions and experiences of New York State parents of children with learning delays and disabilities regarding parental labor force participation, child care options, and preferences in state policies. A total of 141 parents responded to the quantitative survey and 210 to the…

Overview: A recent evaluation of children who had participated in the Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) as toddlers found that at kindergarten age, these children were performing at levels expected for their age, despite the fact that they had multiple factors putting them at risk for school failure. The Study: In the winter and spring of 2002, 135…