This research study recruited 107 fathers from the United States (n = 31), Taiwan (n = 36), and Thailand (n = 37) to examine fathers' involvement in daily caregiving and engagement tasks, as well as fathers' accessibility to their infant(s) during weekdays and the weekend. Results indicated that the most influential demographic variables on father…

Studies on the relationship between bookreading and language development typically lack data about which books are actually read to children. This paper reports on an Internet survey designed to address this data gap. The resulting dataset (the Infant Bookreading Database or IBDb) includes responses from 1,107 caregivers of children aged 0-36…

Is income during children's earliest years a key determinant of long-term child and adult success in the longer run? The research to date, Christopher Wimer and Sharon Wolf write, suggests that it is. Wimer and Wolf review substantial descriptive evidence that income can enhance child development and later adult outcomes, and that it does so most…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submits this report to the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions pursuant to section 649(l)(3) of the Head Start Act (the Act). This report contains findings based on data collected on the U.S. Department of…

An Italian translation of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) was developed and evaluated with 110 infants, demonstrating satisfactory internal consistency, discriminant validity, and construct validity in the form of gender and age differences, as well as factorial integrity. Cross-cultural differences were subsequently evaluated…

Psychometric and utility studies on Social Emotional Assessment Measure (SEAM), an innovative tool for assessing and monitoring social-emotional and behavioral development in infants and toddlers with disabilities, were conducted. The Infant and Toddler SEAM intervals were the study focus, using mixed methods, including item response theory…

In this study, new evidence is presented of marked sex differences in the distribution of insecure attachment patterns in middle childhood. Attachment was assessed with the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) in a sample of 122 Italian 7-year-olds. The four-way distribution of attachment patterns was significantly unbalanced, with…

In a national (US) telephone survey of parents of four-month-old to six-month-old infants (n = 2250), 904 respondents answered the question "Is there anything else you want to tell me about how or why you use music with your baby?" Qualitative analyses of responses generated descriptors, which were applied to Bornstein's four caregiving…

Cultural variation in durations, relations, and contingencies of mother-infant person- and object-directed behaviors were examined for 121 nonmigrant Latino mother-infant dyads in South America, Latina immigrants from South America and their infants living in the United States, and European American mother-infant dyads. Nonmigrant Latina mothers…

We used an optimized configuration of the delayed-response task to explore the ability of young infants to remember which of 2 locations was correct across 12 trials after a 1- to 2-sec delay. Performance improved with age, particularly after 5.5 months. These findings suggest an onset of appreciable working memory for many infants in the middle…

Measured 5- and 12-month-old Japanese and U.S. infants' responses to an arm restraint procedure. Found that older infants exhibited shorter response latencies and produced more negative facial expressions than did younger infants. Among five month olds, U.S. infants produced negative facial expressions more quickly than did Japanese infants. (BC)

Assessed temperament of children of 5-42 months of age. A Q-sort measure was used to assess children's attachment security between 12 and 45 months. Analysis of results revealed an association between temperament and attachment security at all ages. (BC)

Mothers in Argentina, France, Japan, and the United States were observed interacting with their 5- and 13-month-old infants. Maternal speech was classified into expressions concerning affect and information. Mothers in all cultures used both classifications with their infants and spoke to older infants more than younger infants. (BC)

One study compared maternal-infant interactions in two samples: Gusii mothers in Kenya and suburban Boston mothers. A second study examined the relationship between mother-infant interaction and maternal educational attainment in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Found that maternal responsiveness was influenced by the mother's cultural background and school…

This report represents the first ever attempt to draw a comparative picture of the physical abuse of children in the 27 richest nations of the world. UNICEF research estimates that almost 3,500 children under the age of 15 die from physical abuse and neglect every year in the industrialized world. The greatest risk is among younger children. A…