Incubation environment impacts the social cognition of adult lizards.

PubMed

Siviter, Harry; Deeming, D Charles; van Giezen, M F T; Wilkinson, Anna

2017-11-01

Recent work exploring the relationship between early environmental conditions and cognition has shown that incubation environment can influence both brain anatomy and performance in simple operant tasks in young lizards. It is currently unknown how it impacts other, potentially more sophisticated, cognitive processes. Social-cognitive abilities, such as gaze following and social learning, are thought to be highly adaptive as they provide a short-cut to acquiring new information. Here, we investigated whether egg incubation temperature influenced two aspects of social cognition, gaze following and social learning in adult reptiles ( Pogona vitticeps ). Incubation temperature did not influence the gaze following ability of the bearded dragons; however, lizards incubated at colder temperatures were quicker at learning a social task and faster at completing that task. These results are the first to show that egg incubation temperature influences the social cognitive abilities of an oviparous reptile species and that it does so differentially depending on the task. Further, the results show that the effect of incubation environment was not ephemeral but lasted long into adulthood. It could thus have potential long-term effects on fitness.

Incubation environment impacts the social cognition of adult lizards

PubMed Central

van Giezen, M. F. T.

2017-01-01

Recent work exploring the relationship between early environmental conditions and cognition has shown that incubation environment can influence both brain anatomy and performance in simple operant tasks in young lizards. It is currently unknown how it impacts other, potentially more sophisticated, cognitive processes. Social-cognitive abilities, such as gaze following and social learning, are thought to be highly adaptive as they provide a short-cut to acquiring new information. Here, we investigated whether egg incubation temperature influenced two aspects of social cognition, gaze following and social learning in adult reptiles (Pogona vitticeps). Incubation temperature did not influence the gaze following ability of the bearded dragons; however, lizards incubated at colder temperatures were quicker at learning a social task and faster at completing that task. These results are the first to show that egg incubation temperature influences the social cognitive abilities of an oviparous reptile species and that it does so differentially depending on the task. Further, the results show that the effect of incubation environment was not ephemeral but lasted long into adulthood. It could thus have potential long-term effects on fitness. PMID:29291066

Brain signatures of moral sensitivity in adolescents with early social deprivation.

PubMed

Escobar, María Josefina; Huepe, David; Decety, Jean; Sedeño, Lucas; Messow, Marie Kristin; Baez, Sandra; Rivera-Rei, Álvaro; Canales-Johnson, Andrés; Morales, Juan Pablo; Gómez, David Maximiliano; Schröeder, Johannes; Manes, Facundo; López, Vladimir; Ibánez, Agustín

2014-06-19

The present study examined neural responses associated with moral sensitivity in adolescents with a background of early social deprivation. Using high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG), brain activity was measured during an intentional inference task, which assesses rapid moral decision-making regarding intentional or unintentional harm to people and objects. We compared the responses to this task in a socially deprived group (DG) with that of a control group (CG). The event-related potentials (ERPs) results showed atypical early and late frontal cortical markers associated with attribution of intentionality during moral decision-making in DG (especially regarding intentional harm to people). The source space of the hdEEG showed reduced activity for DG compared with CG in the right prefrontal cortex, bilaterally in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and right insula. Moreover, the reduced response in vmPFC for DG was predicted by higher rates of externalizing problems. These findings demonstrate the importance of the social environment in early moral development, supporting a prefrontal maturation model of social deprivation.

The Role of Social Networking Sites in Early Adolescents' Social Lives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antheunis, Marjolijn L.; Schouten, Alexander P.; Krahmer, Emiel

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the role of social networking sites (SNSs) in early adolescents' social lives. First, we investigated the relation between SNS use and several aspects of early adolescents' social lives (i.e., friendship quality, bridging social capital, and bonding social capital). Second, we examined whether there are…

Effects of the social environment during adolescence on the development of social behaviour, hormones and morphology in male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).

PubMed

Bölting, Stefanie; von Engelhardt, Nikolaus

2017-01-01

Individual differences in behaviour are widespread in the animal kingdom and often influenced by the size or composition of the social group during early development. In many vertebrates the effects of social interactions early in life on adult behaviour are mediated by changes in maturation and physiology. Specifically, increases in androgens and glucocorticoids in response to social stimulation seem to play a prominent role in shaping behaviour during development. In addition to the prenatal and early postnatal phase, adolescence has more recently been identified as an important period during which adult behaviour and physiology are shaped by the social environment, which so far has been studied mostly in mammals. We raised zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) under three environmental conditions differing in social complexity during adolescence - juvenile pairs, juvenile groups, and mixed-age groups - and studied males' behavioural, endocrine, and morphological maturation, and later their adult behaviour. As expected, group-housed males exhibited higher frequencies of social interactions. Group housing also enhanced song during adolescence, plumage development, and the frequency and intensity of adult courtship and aggression. Some traits, however, were affected more in juvenile groups and others in mixed-age groups. Furthermore, a testosterone peak during late adolescence was suppressed in groups with adults. In contrast, corticosterone concentrations did not differ between rearing environments. Unexpectedly, adult courtship in a test situation was lowest in pair-reared males and aggression depended upon the treatment of the opponent with highest rates shown by group-reared males towards pair-reared males. This contrasts with previous findings, possibly due to differences in photoperiod and the acoustic environment. Our results support the idea that effects of the adolescent social environment on adult behaviour in vertebrates are mediated by changes in

An exploratory longitudinal study of social and language outcomes in children with autism in bilingual home environments.

PubMed

Zhou, Vanessa; Munson, Jeffrey A; Greenson, Jessica; Hou, Yan; Rogers, Sally; Estes, Annette M

2017-12-01

Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among children with autism spectrum disorder may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder raised in bilingual environments. We conducted an exploratory analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a larger study to explore associations between home language environment and language ability and social skills in response to early autism spectrum disorder intervention. Participants, aged 12-26 months when recruited, were a subset of a larger 2-year, randomized intervention trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00698997). Children from bilingual homes ( n = 13) began intervention with lower gesture use but otherwise demonstrated equal baseline language and social abilities as compared with age and nonverbal IQ-matched children from monolingual homes ( n = 24). Significant language growth was exhibited by children from both language groups and there was no moderating effect of home language environment. The bilingual home group demonstrated increased gesture use over the course of intervention as compared with the monolingual home group. Preliminary data revealed no basis for concerns regarding negative impact of a bilingual home environment on language or social development in young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Mental health and social networks in early adolescence: a dynamic study of objectively-measured social interaction behaviors.

PubMed

Pachucki, Mark C; Ozer, Emily J; Barrat, Alain; Cattuto, Ciro

2015-01-01

How are social interaction dynamics associated with mental health during early stages of adolescence? The goal of this study is to objectively measure social interactions and evaluate the roles that multiple aspects of the social environment--such as physical activity and food choice--may jointly play in shaping the structure of children's relationships and their mental health. The data in this study are drawn from a longitudinal network-behavior study conducted in 2012 at a private K-8 school in an urban setting in California. We recruited a highly complete network sample of sixth-graders (n = 40, 91% of grade, mean age = 12.3), and examined how two measures of distressed mental health (self-esteem and depressive symptoms) are positionally distributed in an early adolescent interaction network. We ascertained how distressed mental health shapes the structure of relationships over a three-month period, adjusting for relevant dimensions of the social environment. Cross-sectional analyses of interaction networks revealed that self-esteem and depressive symptoms are differentially stratified by gender. Specifically, girls with more depressive symptoms have interactions consistent with social inhibition, while boys' interactions suggest robustness to depressive symptoms. Girls higher in self-esteem tended towards greater sociability. Longitudinal network behavior models indicate that gender similarity and perceived popularity are influential in the formation of social ties. Greater school connectedness predicts the development of self-esteem, though social ties contribute to more self-esteem improvement among students who identify as European-American. Cross-sectional evidence shows associations between distressed mental health and students' network peers. However, there is no evidence that connected students' mental health status becomes more similar in their over time because of their network interactions. These findings suggest that mental health during early

Early warning signals of regime shifts in coupled human–environment systems

PubMed Central

Bauch, Chris T.; Sigdel, Ram; Pharaon, Joe; Anand, Madhur

2016-01-01

In complex systems, a critical transition is a shift in a system’s dynamical regime from its current state to a strongly contrasting state as external conditions move beyond a tipping point. These transitions are often preceded by characteristic early warning signals such as increased system variability. However, early warning signals in complex, coupled human–environment systems (HESs) remain little studied. Here, we compare critical transitions and their early warning signals in a coupled HES model to an equivalent environment model uncoupled from the human system. We parameterize the HES model, using social and ecological data from old-growth forests in Oregon. We find that the coupled HES exhibits a richer variety of dynamics and regime shifts than the uncoupled environment system. Moreover, the early warning signals in the coupled HES can be ambiguous, heralding either an era of ecosystem conservationism or collapse of both forest ecosystems and conservationism. The presence of human feedback in the coupled HES can also mitigate the early warning signal, making it more difficult to detect the oncoming regime shift. We furthermore show how the coupled HES can be “doomed to criticality”: Strategic human interactions cause the system to remain perpetually in the vicinity of a collapse threshold, as humans become complacent when the resource seems protected but respond rapidly when it is under immediate threat. We conclude that the opportunities, benefits, and challenges of modeling regime shifts and early warning signals in coupled HESs merit further research. PMID:27815533

Early life family conflict, Social interactions and Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness in Adulthood

PubMed Central

John-Henderson, Neha A.; Kamarck, Thomas W.; Muldoon, Matthew F.; Manuck, Stephen B.

2015-01-01

Objective Conflict in early life family environments is known to affect psychosocial functioning and coping styles into adulthood and is reported to negatively affect access to psychosocial resources that are critical to the management of stress. However, it remains unknown whether early life family conflict similarly affects subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood. We predicted that family conflict in early life would be associated with greater mean Intima-Media thickness (IMT), a subclinical marker of CVD risk, in adulthood. Methods Data were collected in a community sample of 503 adults (47.4 % male, mean age: 42.8 years [SD=7.3]). Associations between family conflict in early life with IMT (assessed using B-mode ultrasound) in adulthood were examined using regression analysis. We also tested for indirect effects of early life family conflict on mean IMT through ecological momentary assessment (EMA) reports of social interactions, diversity of social roles, and perceived social support. Results Linear regression analyses adjusted for demographics and physiological risk factors showed conflict in early life associated with greater mean IMT (β=0.08, t(447)=2.13, p=0.034, R2=0.46). Early life conflict was significantly related to diversity of social roles, perceived social support, and EMA reports of pleasant and social conflict interactions. Significant indirect effects of early life conflict on mean IMT were observed through fewer pleasant social interactions and more frequent social conflict interactions in adulthood (β = 0.001, 95% CI, 0.0001–0.0014 and β=0.001, 95% CI, 0.0002–0.0015, respectively). Conclusions These findings provide initial evidence that family conflict in early life heightens CVD risk in adulthood, in part by shaping the quality of adulthood social interactions. PMID:26809109

Early Life Family Conflict, Social Interactions, and Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness in Adulthood.

PubMed

John-Henderson, Neha A; Kamarck, Thomas W; Muldoon, Matthew F; Manuck, Stephen B

2016-04-01

Conflict in early life family environments is known to affect psychosocial functioning and coping styles into adulthood and is reported to negatively affect access to psychosocial resources that are critical to the management of stress. However, it remains unknown whether early life family conflict similarly affects subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood. We predicted that family conflict in early life would be associated with greater mean intima-media thickness (IMT), a subclinical marker of CVD risk, in adulthood. Data were collected in a community sample of 503 adults (47.4 % male, mean [standard deviation] age = 42.8 [7.3] years). Associations between family conflict in early life with IMT (assessed using B-mode ultrasound) in adulthood were examined using regression analysis. We also tested for indirect effects of early life family conflict on mean IMT through ecological momentary assessment reports of social interactions, diversity of social roles, and perceived social support. Linear regression analyses adjusted for demographics and physiological risk factors showed conflict in early life associated with greater mean IMT (β = 0.08, t(447) = 2.13, p = .034, R = 0.46). Early life conflict was significantly related to diversity of social roles, perceived social support, and ecological momentary assessment reports of pleasant and social conflict interactions. Significant indirect effects of early life conflict on mean IMT were observed through fewer pleasant social interactions and more frequent social conflict interactions in adulthood (β = 0.001 [95% confidence interval = 0.0001-0.0014] and β = 0.001 [95% confidence interval = 0.0002-0.0015], respectively). These findings provide initial evidence that family conflict in early life heightens CVD risk in adulthood, in part by shaping the quality of adulthood social interactions.

Epigenetics: a link between addiction and social environment.

PubMed

Ajonijebu, Duyilemi C; Abboussi, Oualid; Russell, Vivienne A; Mabandla, Musa V; Daniels, William M U

2017-08-01

The detrimental effects of drug abuse are apparently not limited to individuals but may also impact the vulnerability of their progenies to develop addictive behaviours. Epigenetic signatures, early life experience and environmental factors, converge to influence gene expression patterns in addiction phenotypes and consequently may serve as mediators of behavioural trait transmission between generations. The majority of studies investigating the role of epigenetics in addiction do not consider the influence of social interactions. This shortcoming in current experimental approaches necessitates developing social models that reflect the addictive behaviour in a free-living social environment. Furthermore, this review also reports on the advancement of interventions for drug addiction and takes into account the emerging roles of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in the etiology of drug addiction and that HDAC may be a potential therapeutic target at nucleosomal level to improve treatment outcomes.

Group Modeling in Social Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stankov, Slavomir; Glavinic, Vlado; Krpan, Divna

2012-01-01

Students' collaboration while learning could provide better learning environments. Collaboration assumes social interactions which occur in student groups. Social theories emphasize positive influence of such interactions on learning. In order to create an appropriate learning environment that enables social interactions, it is important to…

Nature and the Outdoor Learning Environment: The Forgotten Resource in Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Allen

2015-01-01

Longitudinal studies now confirm the economic, academic, and social importance of high-quality early childhood education. At the same time, a substantial body of research indicates that an outdoor learning and play environment with diverse natural elements advances and enriches all of the domains relevant to the development, health, and well-being…

Pathways from Mothers' Early Social Support to Children's Language Development at Age 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Young Eun

2017-01-01

The relationships between early maternal social support, maternal psychological well-being, the home learning environment, and children's language skills at age 3 in Korean families were examined. We hypothesized that maternal social support would predict children's language development through its effect on maternal psychological well-being and…

Selective and Efficient Neural Coding of Communication Signals Depends on Early Acoustic and Social Environment

PubMed Central

Amin, Noopur; Gastpar, Michael; Theunissen, Frédéric E.

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown that postnatal exposure to simple, synthetic sounds can affect the sound representation in the auditory cortex as reflected by changes in the tonotopic map or other relatively simple tuning properties, such as AM tuning. However, their functional implications for neural processing in the generation of ethologically-based perception remain unexplored. Here we examined the effects of noise-rearing and social isolation on the neural processing of communication sounds such as species-specific song, in the primary auditory cortex analog of adult zebra finches. Our electrophysiological recordings reveal that neural tuning to simple frequency-based synthetic sounds is initially established in all the laminae independent of patterned acoustic experience; however, we provide the first evidence that early exposure to patterned sound statistics, such as those found in native sounds, is required for the subsequent emergence of neural selectivity for complex vocalizations and for shaping neural spiking precision in superficial and deep cortical laminae, and for creating efficient neural representations of song and a less redundant ensemble code in all the laminae. Our study also provides the first causal evidence for ‘sparse coding’, such that when the statistics of the stimuli were changed during rearing, as in noise-rearing, that the sparse or optimal representation for species-specific vocalizations disappeared. Taken together, these results imply that a layer-specific differential development of the auditory cortex requires patterned acoustic input, and a specialized and robust sensory representation of complex communication sounds in the auditory cortex requires a rich acoustic and social environment. PMID:23630587

Rank acquisition in rhesus macaque yearlings following permanent maternal separation: The importance of the social and physical environment.

PubMed

Wooddell, Lauren J; Kaburu, Stefano S K; Murphy, Ashley M; Suomi, Stephen J; Dettmer, Amanda M

2017-11-01

Rank acquisition is a developmental milestone for young primates, but the processes by which primate yearlings attain social rank in the absence of the mother remain unclear. We studied 18 maternally reared yearling rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that differed in their social and physical rearing environments. We found that early social experience and maternal rank, but not individual traits (weight, sex, age), predicted dominance acquisition in the new peer-only social group. Yearlings also used coalitions to reinforce the hierarchy, and social affiliation (play and grooming) was likely a product, rather than a determinant, of rank acquisition. Following relocation to a familiar environment, significant rank changes occurred indicating that familiarity with a physical environment was salient in rank acquisition. Our results add to the growing body of literature emphasizing the role of the social and physical environment on behavioral development, namely social asymmetries among peers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Neighborhood environment quality, individual-level social capital, and depressive symptoms among adolescents].

PubMed

Asakura, Takashi

2011-09-01

We aimed to develop measures to assess features of neighborhood quality and individual social capital, as well as their associations with depressive symptoms among early adolescents. To determine whether relations of depressive symptoms with neighborhood quality might be contingent upon the level of individual cognitive social capital, neighborhood-by-cognitive social capital interaction terms were examined. A qualitative study was conducted to elicit the perceptions of early adolescents about their neighborhood environment. Subsequently, we recruited 2,002 eighth graders and asked for responses to a self-administered questionnaire. The variables analyzed in this study were the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (10 items), features of neighborhood quality, cognitive and structural individual social capital, and demographics. We adopted a generalized estimating equation regression model for the multivariate analysis. The analytic sample was 1,786 with no missing variable in the models. Seven subscales were devised to assess quality features of neighborhood environments with an examination of validity and reliability: "availability of services," "good neighborhood relations," "spaces for recreation," "insecurity and danger of accidents," "dirty-looking, squalid, unclean," "civic communities," and "aesthetic look." We also developed a scale of individual cognitive social capital, which consisted of three constructs: "social trust," "reciprocity," and "social norms." Additionally, the number of social activities in which subjects participated was counted as an indicator of the structural aspect of individual social capital. On examination with the generalized estimating equation regression model, "availability of services," "insecurity and danger of accidents," "dirty-looking, squalid, unclean," and cognitive social capital were significantly associated with the CES-D scores controlling for demographics. We also found a significant interplay between

An integrated model of social environment and social context for pediatric rehabilitation.

PubMed

Batorowicz, Beata; King, Gillian; Mishra, Lipi; Missiuna, Cheryl

2016-01-01

This article considers the conceptualization and operationalization of "social environment" and "social context" with implications for research and practice with children and youth with impairments. We first discuss social environment and social context as constructs important for understanding interaction between external environmental qualities and the individual's experience. The article considers existing conceptualizations within psychological and sociological bodies of literature, research using these concepts, current developmental theories and issues in the understanding of environment and participation within rehabilitation science. We then describe a model that integrates a person-focused perspective with an environment-focused perspective and that outlines the mechanisms through which children/youth and social environment interact and transact. Finally, we consider the implications of the proposed model for research and clinical practice. This conceptual model directs researchers and practitioners toward interventions that will address the mechanisms of child-environment interaction and that will build capacity within both children and their social environments, including families, peers groups and communities. Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life; where they learn, work, play, and love [p.2]. Understanding how social environment and personal factors interact over time to affect the development of children/youth can influence the design of services for children and youth with impairments. The model described integrates the individual-focused and environment-focused perspectives and outlines the mechanisms of the ongoing reciprocal interaction between children/youth and their social environments: provision of opportunities, resources and supports and contextual processes of choice, active engagement and collaboration. Addressing these mechanisms could contribute to creating healthier environments in which all

Street music or the blues? The lived experience and social environment of depression.

PubMed

Poslusny, S M

2000-01-01

Life's complexity is a haunting melody of continuously interacting variables .... Professional practice in nursing seeks to promote symphonic interaction between man [sic] and environment. . . (Rogers, 1970, pp. 41, 122). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of clinical depression for women in the context of their social relations and environment. Twelve ethnically diverse female friend dyads were interviewed and completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Seventeen of these women had experienced a major depression in the past or were in treatment for clinical depression at the time of the study. This depression was characterized by dissonance experienced in childhood abuse and incest, uncontrollable moods despite self-medication, abusive or negligent therapy, failed social relationships in adulthood, and a lack of resources in the environment. In contrast, seven healthy women described their social environment as generally resonant and connected. Prevention of childhood abuse and racism, relief from economic hardships, early diagnosis, and safe, effective treatment are essential in helping women to survive clinical depression. Nurses in the community are in a unique position to affect this public health problem.

Early-Life Stress Triggers Juvenile Zebra Finches to Switch Social Learning Strategies.

PubMed

Farine, Damien R; Spencer, Karen A; Boogert, Neeltje J

2015-08-17

Stress during early life can cause disease and cognitive impairment in humans and non-humans alike. However, stress and other environmental factors can also program developmental pathways. We investigate whether differential exposure to developmental stress can drive divergent social learning strategies between siblings. In many species, juveniles acquire essential foraging skills by copying others: they can copy peers (horizontal social learning), learn from their parents (vertical social learning), or learn from other adults (oblique social learning). However, whether juveniles' learning strategies are condition dependent largely remains a mystery. We found that juvenile zebra finches living in flocks socially learned novel foraging skills exclusively from adults. By experimentally manipulating developmental stress, we further show that social learning targets are phenotypically plastic. While control juveniles learned foraging skills from their parents, their siblings, exposed as nestlings to experimentally elevated stress hormone levels, learned exclusively from unrelated adults. Thus, early-life conditions triggered individuals to switch strategies from vertical to oblique social learning. This switch could arise from stress-induced differences in developmental rate, cognitive and physical state, or the use of stress as an environmental cue. Acquisition of alternative social learning strategies may impact juveniles' fit to their environment and ultimately change their developmental trajectories. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Early social isolation impairs development, mate choice and grouping behaviour of predatory mites

PubMed Central

Schausberger, Peter; Gratzer, Marian; Strodl, Markus A.

2017-01-01

The social environment early in life is a key determinant of developmental, physiological and behavioural trajectories across vertebrate and invertebrate animals. One crucial variable is the presence/absence of conspecifics. For animals usually reared in groups, social isolation after birth or hatching can be a highly stressful circumstance, with potentially long-lasting consequences. Here, we assessed the effects of social deprivation (isolation) early in life, that is, absence of conspecifics, versus social enrichment, that is, presence of conspecifics, on developmental time, body size at maturity, mating behaviour and group-living in the plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis. Socially deprived protonymphs developed more slowly and were less socially competent in grouping behaviour than socially enriched protonymphs. Compromised social competence in grouping behaviour was evident in decreased activity, fewer mutual encounters and larger interindividual distances, all of which may entail severe fitness costs. In female choice/male competition, socially deprived males mated earlier than socially enriched males; in male choice/female competition, socially deprived females were more likely to mate than socially enriched females. In neither mate choice situation did mating duration or body size at maturity differ between socially deprived and enriched mating opponents. Social isolation-induced shifts in mating behaviour may be interpreted as increased attractiveness or competitiveness or, more likely, as hastiness and reduced ability to assess mate quality. Overall, many of the social isolation-induced behavioural changes in P. persimilis are analogous to those observed in other animals such as cockroaches, fruit flies, fishes or rodents. We argue that, due to their profound and persistent effects, early social deprivation or enrichment may be important determinants in shaping animal personalities. PMID:28502987

Early social isolation impairs development, mate choice and grouping behaviour of predatory mites.

PubMed

Schausberger, Peter; Gratzer, Marian; Strodl, Markus A

2017-05-01

The social environment early in life is a key determinant of developmental, physiological and behavioural trajectories across vertebrate and invertebrate animals. One crucial variable is the presence/absence of conspecifics. For animals usually reared in groups, social isolation after birth or hatching can be a highly stressful circumstance, with potentially long-lasting consequences. Here, we assessed the effects of social deprivation (isolation) early in life, that is, absence of conspecifics, versus social enrichment, that is, presence of conspecifics, on developmental time, body size at maturity, mating behaviour and group-living in the plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis . Socially deprived protonymphs developed more slowly and were less socially competent in grouping behaviour than socially enriched protonymphs. Compromised social competence in grouping behaviour was evident in decreased activity, fewer mutual encounters and larger interindividual distances, all of which may entail severe fitness costs. In female choice/male competition, socially deprived males mated earlier than socially enriched males; in male choice/female competition, socially deprived females were more likely to mate than socially enriched females. In neither mate choice situation did mating duration or body size at maturity differ between socially deprived and enriched mating opponents. Social isolation-induced shifts in mating behaviour may be interpreted as increased attractiveness or competitiveness or, more likely, as hastiness and reduced ability to assess mate quality. Overall, many of the social isolation-induced behavioural changes in P. persimilis are analogous to those observed in other animals such as cockroaches, fruit flies, fishes or rodents. We argue that, due to their profound and persistent effects, early social deprivation or enrichment may be important determinants in shaping animal personalities.

Fostering Social Expertise in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porath, Marion

2009-01-01

Social competence is an essential capability to bring to school because of its relationship to academic success. Development and consolidation of social understanding in early childhood ensures that young children have a solid foundation of social expertise when they begin formal schooling. Social expertise, conceptualized within the framework of…

Neighborhood Attributes Associated With the Social Environment.

PubMed

Child, Stephanie T; Schoffman, Danielle E; Kaczynski, Andrew T; Forthofer, Melinda; Wilcox, Sara; Baruth, Meghan

2016-11-01

To examine the association between specific attributes of neighborhood environments and four social environment measures. Data were collected as part of a baseline survey among participants enrolling in a walking intervention. Participants were recruited from a metropolitan area in a Southeastern state. Participants (n = 294) were predominantly African-American (67%) and female (86%), with some college education (79%) and a mean age of 49. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Environment Module assessed perceptions about neighborhood attributes. The social environment was assessed using three distinct scales: social cohesion, social interactions with neighbors, and social support for physical activity from family and friends. Multiple regression models examined associations between neighborhood attributes and social environment measures, adjusting for demographic variables. Having walkable destinations and having access to amenities and transit stops were associated with increased interactions with neighbors (b = 1.32, 1.04, and 1.68, respectively, p < .05). Attributes related to structural support for physical activity (sidewalks, street connectivity, recreation facilities) were associated with increased interactions with neighbors (b = 1.47, 1.34, and 1.13, respectively, p < .05). Bicycling facilities that were maintained (i.e., bike lanes, racks) were associated with social support for physical activity from family and friends (b = .43 and .30, respectively, p < .05). The study highlights key attributes of neighborhood environments that may be associated with the social context of such settings. © 2016 by American Journal of Health Promotion, Inc.

The Combined Influence of Air Pollution and Home Learning Environment on Early Cognitive Skills in Children

PubMed Central

Stingone, Jeanette A.

2017-01-01

Cognitive skills are one component of school readiness that reflect a child’s neurodevelopment and are influenced by environmental and social factors. Most studies assess the impact of these factors individually, without taking into consideration the complex interactions of multiple factors. The objective of this study was to examine the joint association of markers of environmental pollution and of social factors on early cognitive skills in an urban cohort of children. For this, we chose isophorone in ambient air as a marker of industrial air pollution. Low quality home learning environments was chosen as a marker of the social factors contributing to cognitive development. Using a subpopulation from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N = 4050), isophorone exposure was assigned using the 2002 National Air Toxics Assessment. Home learning environment was assessed with a modified version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory, and standardized math assessment scores were used as a measure of early cognitive skills. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the effect of both exposures on math scores. After adjustment for confounders, children living in areas with ambient isophorone in the upper quintile of exposure (>0.49 ng/m3) had math scores that were 1.63 points lower than their less exposed peers [95% CI: −2.91, −0.34], and children with lower HOME scores (at or below 9 out of 12) had math scores that were 1.20 points lower than children with better HOME scores [95% CI: −2.30, −0.10]. In adjusted models accounting for identified confounders and both exposures of interest, both high isophorone exposure and low HOME score remained independently associated with math scores [−1.48, 95% CI: −2.79, −0.18; −1.05, 95% CI: −2.15, 0.05, respectively]. There was no statistical evidence of interaction between the two exposures, although children with both higher isophorone exposure and a low

The Combined Influence of Air Pollution and Home Learning Environment on Early Cognitive Skills in Children.

PubMed

Lett, Lanair A; Stingone, Jeanette A; Claudio, Luz

2017-10-26

Cognitive skills are one component of school readiness that reflect a child's neurodevelopment and are influenced by environmental and social factors. Most studies assess the impact of these factors individually, without taking into consideration the complex interactions of multiple factors. The objective of this study was to examine the joint association of markers of environmental pollution and of social factors on early cognitive skills in an urban cohort of children. For this, we chose isophorone in ambient air as a marker of industrial air pollution. Low quality home learning environments was chosen as a marker of the social factors contributing to cognitive development. Using a subpopulation from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N = 4050), isophorone exposure was assigned using the 2002 National Air Toxics Assessment. Home learning environment was assessed with a modified version of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory, and standardized math assessment scores were used as a measure of early cognitive skills. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the effect of both exposures on math scores. After adjustment for confounders, children living in areas with ambient isophorone in the upper quintile of exposure (>0.49 ng/m³) had math scores that were 1.63 points lower than their less exposed peers [95% CI: -2.91, -0.34], and children with lower HOME scores (at or below 9 out of 12) had math scores that were 1.20 points lower than children with better HOME scores [95% CI: -2.30, -0.10]. In adjusted models accounting for identified confounders and both exposures of interest, both high isophorone exposure and low HOME score remained independently associated with math scores [-1.48, 95% CI: -2.79, -0.18; -1.05, 95% CI: -2.15, 0.05, respectively]. There was no statistical evidence of interaction between the two exposures, although children with both higher isophorone exposure and a low HOME score had a

Home Environment Quality Mediates the Effects of an Early Intervention on Children's Social-Emotional Development in Rural Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finch, Jenna E.; Obradovic, Jelena; Yousafzai, Aisha

2016-01-01

Over 200 million children under the age of 5 are not fulfilling their developmental potential due to poverty, poor health, and lack of cognitive stimulation. Experiences in early childhood have long term-effects on brain development and thus the cognitive and social-emotional skills that promote children's school success. Further, early childhood…

Elevated Social Anxiety among Early Maturing Girls

PubMed Central

Blumenthal, Heidemarie; Leen-Feldner, Ellen W.; Babson, Kimberly A.; Gahr, Jessica L.; Trainor, Casey D.; Frala, Jamie L.

2012-01-01

Adolescence is a key period in terms of the development of anxiety psychopathology. An emerging literature suggests that early pubertal maturation is associated with enhanced vulnerability for anxiety symptomatology, although few studies have examined this association with regard to social anxiety. Accordingly, the current study was designed to further elucidate the relation between pubertal timing and social anxiety, with a focus on clarifying the role of gender. Participants were 138 adolescents (ages 12-17 years) recruited from the general community. Level of social anxiety was examined as a function of gender and within-sample pubertal timing. As expected, early-maturing girls evidenced significantly higher social anxiety as compared to on-time girls and early-maturing boys, and no other differences were found as a function of gender or developmental timing. Findings and future directions are discussed in terms of forwarding developmentally-sensitive models of social anxiety etiology and prevention. PMID:21604866

Early Adolescents' Social Goals and School Adjustment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawes, Molly

2017-01-01

What are the common types of social goals endorsed by early adolescents and how are they related to their school adjustment? This article discusses the importance of assessing students' social goals during the early adolescent developmental period when peers become increasingly important and youth experience tremendous changes to the school…

Natural genetic variation in social environment choice: context-dependent gene-environment correlation in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Saltz, Julia B

2011-08-01

Gene-environment correlation (rGE) occurs when an individual's genotype determines its choice of environment, generating a correlation between environment and genotype frequency. In particular, social rGE, caused by genetic variation in social environment choice, can critically determine both individual development and the course of social selection. Despite its foundational role in social evolution and developmental psychology theory, natural genetic variation in social environment choice has scarcely been examined empirically. Drosophila melanogaster provides an ideal system for investigating social rGE. Flies live socially in nature and have many opportunities to make social decisions; and natural, heterozygous genotypes may be replicated, enabling comparisons between genotypes across environments. Using this approach, I show that all aspects of social environment choice vary among natural genotypes, demonstrating pervasive social rGE. Surprisingly, genetic variation in group-size preference was density dependent, indicating that the behavioral and evolutionary consequences of rGE may depend on the context in which social decisions are made. These results provide the first detailed investigation of social rGE, and illustrate that that genetic variation may influence organismal performance by specifying the environment in which traits are expressed. © 2011 The Author(s). Evolution© 2011 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Infants: Their Social Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weissbourd, Bernice, Ed.; Musick, Judith S., Ed.

This book deals with issues surrounding the social and caregiving environments of children's first three years. Issues most relevant to the assessment of infants and their caregiving environments and to the design and implementation of programs for infants and toddlers are addressed in the first paper. The second paper discusses the developmental…

Divergence of developmental trajectories is triggered interactively by early social and ecological experience in a cooperative breeder

PubMed Central

Bohn, Lena; Oberhummer, Evelyne

2017-01-01

Cooperative breeders feature the highest level of social complexity among vertebrates. Environmental constraints foster the evolution of this form of social organization, selecting for both well-developed social and ecological competences. Cooperative breeders pursue one of two alternative social trajectories: delaying reproduction to care for the offspring of dominant breeders or dispersing early to breed independently. It is yet unclear which ecological and social triggers determine the choice between these alternatives and whether diverging developmental trajectories exist in cooperative vertebrates predisposing them to dispersal or philopatry. Here we experimentally reared juveniles of cooperatively breeding cichlid fish by varying the social environment and simulated predation threat in a two-by-two factorial long-term experiment. First, we show that individuals develop specialized behavioral competences, originating already in the early postnatal phase. Second, these specializations predisposed individuals to pursue different developmental trajectories and either to disperse early or to extend philopatry in adulthood. Thus, our results contrast with the proposition that social specializations in early ontogeny should be restricted to eusocial species. Importantly, social and ecological triggers were both required for the generation of divergent life histories. Our results thus confirm recent predictions from theoretical models that organisms should combine relevant information from different environmental cues to develop integrated phenotypes. PMID:29078289

Defining the Environment in Gene–Environment Research: Lessons From Social Epidemiology

PubMed Central

Daw, Jonathan; Freese, Jeremy

2013-01-01

In this article, we make the case that social epidemiology provides a useful framework to define the environment within gene–environment (G×E) research. We describe the environment in a multilevel, multidomain, longitudinal framework that accounts for upstream processes influencing health outcomes. We then illustrate the utility of this approach by describing how intermediate levels of social organization, such as neighborhoods or schools, are key environmental components of G×E research. We discuss different models of G×E research and encourage public health researchers to consider the value of including genetic information from their study participants. We also encourage researchers interested in G×E interplay to consider the merits of the social epidemiology model when defining the environment. PMID:23927514

The wider social environment and changes in self-reported quality of life in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence: a cohort study

PubMed Central

Drukker, Marjan; Kaplan, Charles; Schneiders, Josien; Feron, Frans JM; van Os, Jim

2006-01-01

Background Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social capital have been associated with adolescent well-being, but the majority of studies were cross-sectional, and the time window over which the neighbourhood may impact on development is unknown. Therefore, the contribution of the neighbourhood environment to adolescents' quality of life and the course of these effects during the period of transition from childhood to early adolescence was examined. Methods A cohort of adolescents living in Maastricht (The Netherlands), with a mean age of 11.2 years at baseline and of 13.5 years at follow-up was followed. Adolescents who responded both at baseline and at follow-up were included in the analysis (n = 475). Multilevel regression analyses estimated neighbourhood effects while controlling for individual-level effects. Neighbourhood-level socioeconomic and social capital variables, individual-level confounders, and baseline values of the outcome measures were included in the models. Results None of the neighbourhood factors was associated with changes in general health or mental health over the two-year period. However, two-year exposure to greater disparity between individual level socioeconomic status on the one hand and neighbourhood level of socioeconomic status on the other (e.g. high socioeconomic status adolescents living in deprived neighbourhoods and vice versa) negatively impacted on self-esteem and satisfaction. Conclusion The neighbourhood environment per se does not contribute to change in quality of life during the transition to early adolescence. However, adolescents living in families whose socioeconomic status deviates from the mean level of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation may be negatively affected. PMID:16707015

Early childhood social disadvantage is associated with poor health behaviours in adulthood

PubMed Central

Non, Amy L.; Román, Jorge Carlos; Gross, Christopher L.; Gilman, Stephen E.; Loucks, Eric B.; Buka, Stephen L.; Kubzansky, Laura D.

2016-01-01

Background Individual health behaviours are considered important risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases. These behaviours may be socially patterned by early exposure to social disadvantage, but few studies have prospectively tested this hypothesis empirically. Aim We investigated whether childhood social disadvantage was associated with likelihood of engaging in less healthy behaviours 40 years later. Subjects and Methods Prospective data were analysed from the New England Family Study, a 2005–2007 adult follow-up of a cohort initiated in 1959–1966 (n=565). Childhood social environment (birth-age 7) was assessed using a cumulative index of socioeconomic and family stability factors. Logistic regression models evaluated associations between social disadvantage and each health-related behaviour and obesity in adulthood. Results Relative to low disadvantage, higher disadvantage was associated with 3.6-fold greater odds of smoking (95% CI: 1.9, 7.0), 4.8-fold greater odds (in women only) of excess alcohol consumption (95% CI: 1.6, 14.2), and 2.7-fold greater odds of obesity (95% CI: 1.3, 5.5), but was not associated with unhealthy diet or physical inactivity. Conclusion These findings suggest childhood social disadvantage may contribute to adult cardiometabolic disease by predisposing children to adopt certain unhealthy behaviours. If replicated, such findings may support intervention strategies that target social environmental factors and behavioural pathways that are established early in life. PMID:26727037

Early Years Practitioners' Views on Early Personal, Social and Emotional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aubrey, Carol; Ward, Karen

2013-01-01

Current policy guidance stresses the need for early identification of obstacles to learning and appropriate intervention. New standards for learning (Early Years Foundation Stage) place personal, social and emotional development (PSED) as central to learning and development. This paper reports a survey and follow-up interviews with early years…

Organizational change, psychosocial work environment, and non-disability early retirement: a prospective study among senior public employees.

PubMed

Breinegaard, Nina; Jensen, Johan Høy; Bonde, Jens Peter

2017-05-01

Objective This study examines the impact of organizational change and psychosocial work environment on non-disability early retirement among senior public service employees. Methods In January and February 2011, Danish senior public service employees aged 58-64 years (N=3254) from the Capital Region of Denmark responded to a survey assessing psychosocial work environment (ie, social capital, organizational justice, and quality of management). Work-unit organizational changes (ie, change of management, merging, demerging, and relocation) were recorded from January 2009 to March 2011. Weekly data on non-disability early retirement transfer were obtained from the DREAM register database, which holds weekly information about all public benefit payments in Denmark. Hazard ratios (HR) for early retirement following employees' 60 th birthday were estimated with Cox regression adjusted for age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Results Exposure to change of management [HR 1.37, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.13-1.66], mergers (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.02-1.48), and relocation of work unit (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.01-1.54) increased rate of non-disability early retirement, while demerging of work unit did not (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.79-1.33). Work units with lower levels of social capital (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.05-1.41), organizational justice, (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.04-1.32), and quality of management (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.25) increased rate of early retirement. Conclusion Organizational change and poor psychosocial work environment contribute to non-disability early retirement among senior public service employees, measured at work-unit level.

Early social networks predict survival in wild bottlenose dolphins.

PubMed

Stanton, Margaret A; Mann, Janet

2012-01-01

A fundamental question concerning group-living species is what factors influence the evolution of sociality. Although several studies link adult social bonds to fitness, social patterns and relationships are often formed early in life and are also likely to have fitness consequences, particularly in species with lengthy developmental periods, extensive social learning, and early social bond-formation. In a longitudinal study of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), calf social network structure, specifically the metric eigenvector centrality, predicted juvenile survival in males. Additionally, male calves that died post-weaning had stronger ties to juvenile males than surviving male calves, suggesting that juvenile males impose fitness costs on their younger counterparts. Our study indicates that selection is acting on social traits early in life and highlights the need to examine the costs and benefits of social bonds during formative life history stages.

Family Risks and Protective Factors: Pathways to Early Head Start Toddlers' Social-Emotional Functioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vick Whittaker, Jessica E.; Harden, Brenda Jones; See, Heather M.; Meisch, Allison D.; Westbrook, T'Pring R.

2011-01-01

Early Head Start children may be more likely to exhibit difficulties with social-emotional functioning due to the high-risk environments in which they live. However, positive parenting may serve as a protective factor against the influence of risk on children's outcomes. The current study examines the effects of contextual and proximal risks on…

Resilience of the Nexus of Competitive Water Consumption between Human Society and Environment Development: Regime Shifts and Early Warning Signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Z.; Liu, P.; Feng, M.; Zhang, J.

2017-12-01

Based on the modeling of the water supply, power generation and environment (WPE) nexus by Feng et al. (2016), a refined theoretical model of competitive water consumption between human society and environment has been presented in this study, examining the role of technology advancement and social environmental awareness growth-induced pollution mitigation to the environment as a mechanism for the establishment and maintenance of the coexistence of both higher social water consumption and improved environment condition. By coupling environmental and social dynamics, both of which are represented by water consumption quantity, this study shows the possibility of sustainable situation of the social-environmental system when the benefit of technology offsets the side effect (pollution) of social development to the environment. Additionally, regime shifts could be triggered by gradually increased pollution rate, climate change-induced natural resources reduction and breakdown of the social environmental awareness. Therefore, in order to foresee the pending abrupt regime shifts of the system, early warning signals, including increasing variance and autocorrelation, have been examined when the system is undergoing stochastic disturbance. ADDIN EN.REFLIST Feng, M. et al., 2016. Modeling the nexus across water supply, power generation and environment systems using the system dynamics approach: Hehuang Region, China. J. Hydrol., 543: 344-359.

Epigenetic Influence of Stress and the Social Environment

PubMed Central

Gudsnuk, Kathryn; Champagne, Frances A.

2012-01-01

Animal models of early-life stress and variation in social experience across the lifespan have contributed significantly to our understanding of the environmental regulation of the developing brain. Plasticity in neurobiological pathways regulating stress responsivity, cognition, and reproductive behavior is apparent during the prenatal period and continues into adulthood, suggesting a lifelong sensitivity to environmental cues. Recent evidence suggests that dynamic epigenetic changes—molecular modifications that alter gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence—account for this plasticity. In this review, we highlight studies of laboratory rodents that illustrate the association between the experience of prenatal stress, maternal separation, maternal care, abusive caregiving in infancy, juvenile social housing, and adult social stress and variation in DNA methylation and histone modification. Moreover, we discuss emerging evidence for the transgenerational impact of these experiences. These experimental paradigms have yielded insights into the potential role of epigenetic mechanisms in mediating the effects of the environment on human development and also indicate that consideration of the sensitivity of laboratory animals to environmental cues may be an important factor in predicting long-term health and welfare. PMID:23744967

The Social Environment and Childbearing Expectations: Implications for Strength-Based Sexual Health Interventions for Latino Youth.

PubMed

vanDommelen-Gonzalez, Evan; Deardorff, Julianna; Herd, Denise; Minnis, Alexandra M

2016-06-01

In the United States, adolescent childbearing is disproportionately higher among Latino youth, a growing population facing substantial social exclusion. Exploring the relationship between the social environment and sexual health outcomes among Latino youth may offer insights into the development of novel interventions. In this study, Latino youth in partnerships were recruited from neighborhood venues in San Francisco and completed in-depth interviews. Youth reported a desire to complete higher education goals prior to starting a family to improve future opportunities and further personal development. Youth stated that social network members, family and partners, were supportive of their individual childbearing expectations. Social environment barriers tied to poverty, immigration status, and gang violence hindered educational attainment. Some differences were noted by gender and immigrant generation. Building on protective social ties and creating avenues in poor, urban neighborhoods for Latino youth to fully access educational opportunities may counter early childbearing and improve sexual health.

Social Factors in the Development of Early Executive Functioning: A Closer Look at the Caregiving Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernier, Annie; Carlson, Stephanie M.; Deschenes, Marie; Matte-Gagne, Celia

2012-01-01

This study investigated prospective links between quality of the early caregiving environment and children's subsequent executive functioning (EF). Sixty-two families were met on five occasions, allowing for assessment of maternal interactive behavior, paternal interactive behavior, and child attachment security between 1 and 2 years of age, and…

The relationship between social skills and early resignation in Japanese novice nurses.

PubMed

Niitsuma, Mayuko; Katsuki, Takeshi; Sakuma, Yumiko; Sato, Chifumi

2012-07-01

The aim of this study was to reveal the relationship between social skills and early resignation in Japanese novice nurses. The early resignation of novice nurses has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the personal sociality of novice nurses and their early resignation. We surveyed 272 nurses with 1-3 years of experience. Instances of early resignation were studied by using a questionnaire, and their social skills were measured using Kikuchi's Scale of Social Skills:18 items (KiSS-18), a tool developed by Kikuchi to estimate sociality. Nurses with low sociality were more likely to resign than those with higher sociality. The lack of advanced social skills was closely associated with a higher likelihood of early resignation. The presence of advanced social skills appeared to potentially prevent resignation among novice nurses. Further investigation is needed to determine the causal relationship between sociality and early resignation. Social skills training for novice nurses may be of benefit in preventing early resignation. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Early-life social experiences in mice affect emotional behaviour and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function.

PubMed

Ros-Simó, Clara; Valverde, Olga

2012-09-01

Early-life stressful experiences are associated to alterations in behavioural responses and development of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. In rodents, individual housing is considered as a stressful condition whilst enriched environment can protect against stress and its negative consequences. Neuroendocrine responses to stress can also be altered by early-life experiences and seem to contribute to behavioural alterations induced by changes in housing conditions. To develop an improved procedure of social isolation throughout development (from pre-adolescence to adulthood) in CD1 mice and to elucidate its effects on behavioural parameters related to stress and neuroendocrine responses compared to enriched or social conditions. CD1 male mice (PND 21) were housed in social/standard conditions, enriched conditions or isolated conditions during seven weeks. After that, different relevant behaviours were evaluated, including locomotor activity, anxiety-like and despair behaviour. Levels of plasma corticosterone were also analysed before and after a stressful event. CD1 mice exposed to an isolated environment exhibited higher locomotion and anxiety-like responses than animals exposed to social or enriched conditions. In addition, isolated animals showed lower basal plasma corticosterone than social or enriched ones but after a stressful event the elevation of plasma corticosterone was higher, suggesting an enhanced response of the HPA axis to a novel and stressful situation. Social interaction is an important feature to display an appropriate behavioural and neuronal development. Habituation to novel stimuli is impaired in subjects exposed to social isolation and induces increased excitability response to stressful events. Social deprivation increases the possibility of altered neuronal function and could facilitate the development of neuropsychiatric disorders in adulthood. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Can the Home Environment Promote Resilience for Children Born Very Preterm in the Context of Social and Medical Risk?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treyvaud, Karli; Inder, Terrie E.; Lee, Katherine J.; Northam, Elisabeth A.; Doyle, Lex W.; Anderson, Peter J.

2012-01-01

Relationships between the home environment and early developmental outcomes were examined in 166 children born very preterm in one tertiary maternity hospital to explore whether a more optimal home environment could promote resilience. In particular, we explored whether this effect was apparent over and above social risk and children's biological…

Maternal Insomnia and Children's Family Socialization Environments

PubMed Central

Gregory, Alice M.; Moffitt, Terrie E.; Ambler, Antony; Arseneault, Louise; Houts, Renate M.; Caspi, Avshalom

2012-01-01

Study Objectives: To examine concurrent associations between maternal insomnia and different aspects of the family socialization environment. Design: Mothers reported on their symptoms of insomnia in a private standardized interview and interviewers evaluated the family socialization environment using the Coder's Inventory. Setting: Assessments were conducted in participants' homes within the U.K. Patients or Participants: One thousand one hundred sixteen mothers of British children enrolled in the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) study were invited to participate when their children were aged 12 years. Interventions: N/A. Measurements and Results: After controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), mothers' relationship status, and maternal depression, maternal insomnia was associated with a poorer family socialization environment (β = −0.10, [95% confidence intervals (CI) = −0.16, −0.04], P < 0.001). When family socialization environment subscales were examined, after controlling for family SES, mothers' relationship status, and maternal depression, maternal insomnia was associated with greater chaos (β = 0.09, [95% CI = 0.03, 0.15], P = 0.002), greater child neglect (β = 0.13, [95% CI = 0.07, 0.18], P < 0.001), less happiness (β = −0.13, [95% CI = −0.18, −0.07], P < 0.001), less child stimulation (β = −0.06, [95% CI = −0.11, 0.00], P = 0.043), but not poorer state of the home, such as orderliness (β = −0.04, [95% CI = −0.10, 0.02], P = 0.182). Conclusions: Maternal insomnia is associated with the family socialization environment. This finding emphasizes the need to consider insomnia in the family context. Citation: Gregory AM; Moffitt TE; Ambler A; Arseneault L; Houts RM; Caspi A. Maternal insomnia and children's family socialization environments. SLEEP 2012;35(4):579-582. PMID:22467996

The Social Environment and Childbearing Expectations: Implications for Strengths-based Sexual Health Interventions for Latino Youth

PubMed Central

vanDommelen-Gonzalez, Evan; Deardorff, Julianna; Herd, Denise; Minnis, Alexandra M.

2015-01-01

In the United States, adolescent childbearing is disproportionately higher among Latino youth, a growing population facing substantial social exclusion. Exploring the relationship between the social environment and sexual health outcomes among Latino youth may offer insights into the development of novel interventions. In this study, Latino youth in partnerships were recruited from neighborhood venues in San Francisco and completed in-depth interviews. Youth reported a desire to complete higher education goals prior to starting a family to improve future opportunities and further personal development. Youth stated that social network members, family and partners, were supportive of their individual childbearing expectations. Social environment barriers tied to poverty, immigration status, and gang violence hindered educational attainment. Some differences were noted by gender and immigrant generation. Building on protective social ties and creating avenues in poor, urban neighborhoods for Latino youth to fully access educational opportunities may counter early childbearing and improve sexual health. PMID:27271070

Early-Life Social Isolation Influences Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalizations during Male-Male Social Encounters.

PubMed

Keesom, Sarah M; Finton, Caitlyn J; Sell, Gabrielle L; Hurley, Laura M

2017-01-01

Early-life social isolation has profound effects on adult social competence. This is often expressed as increased aggression or inappropriate displays of courtship-related behaviors. The social incompetence exhibited by isolated animals could be in part due to an altered ability to participate in communicatory exchanges. House mice (Mus musculus) present an excellent model for exploring this idea, because social isolation has a well-established influence on their social behavior, and mice engage in communication via multiple sensory modalities. Here, we tested the prediction that social isolation during early life would influence ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by adult male mice during same-sex social encounters. Starting at three weeks of age, male mice were housed individually or in social groups of four males for five weeks, after which they were placed in one of three types of paired social encounters. Pair types consisted of: two individually housed males, two socially housed males, or an individually housed and a socially housed male ("mixed" pairs). Vocal behavior (USVs) and non-vocal behaviors were recorded from these 15-minute social interactions. Pairs of mice consisting of at least one individually housed male emitted more and longer USVs, with a greater proportional use of USVs containing frequency jumps and 50-kHz components. Individually housed males in the mixed social pairs exhibited increased levels of mounting behavior towards the socially housed males. Mounting in these pairs was positively correlated with increased number and duration of USVs as well as increased proportional use of spectrally more complex USVs. These findings demonstrate that USVs are part of the suite of social behaviors influenced by early-life social isolation, and suggest that altered vocal communication following isolation reflects reduced social competence.

Early-Life Social Isolation Influences Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalizations during Male-Male Social Encounters

PubMed Central

Finton, Caitlyn J.; Sell, Gabrielle L.; Hurley, Laura M.

2017-01-01

Early-life social isolation has profound effects on adult social competence. This is often expressed as increased aggression or inappropriate displays of courtship-related behaviors. The social incompetence exhibited by isolated animals could be in part due to an altered ability to participate in communicatory exchanges. House mice (Mus musculus) present an excellent model for exploring this idea, because social isolation has a well-established influence on their social behavior, and mice engage in communication via multiple sensory modalities. Here, we tested the prediction that social isolation during early life would influence ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by adult male mice during same-sex social encounters. Starting at three weeks of age, male mice were housed individually or in social groups of four males for five weeks, after which they were placed in one of three types of paired social encounters. Pair types consisted of: two individually housed males, two socially housed males, or an individually housed and a socially housed male (“mixed” pairs). Vocal behavior (USVs) and non-vocal behaviors were recorded from these 15-minute social interactions. Pairs of mice consisting of at least one individually housed male emitted more and longer USVs, with a greater proportional use of USVs containing frequency jumps and 50-kHz components. Individually housed males in the mixed social pairs exhibited increased levels of mounting behavior towards the socially housed males. Mounting in these pairs was positively correlated with increased number and duration of USVs as well as increased proportional use of spectrally more complex USVs. These findings demonstrate that USVs are part of the suite of social behaviors influenced by early-life social isolation, and suggest that altered vocal communication following isolation reflects reduced social competence. PMID:28056078

Early Social Fear Predicts Kindergarteners' Socially Anxious Behaviors: Direct Associations, Moderation by Inhibitory Control, and Differences from Nonsocial Fear

PubMed Central

Brooker, Rebecca J.; Kiel, Elizabeth J.; Buss, Kristin A.

2015-01-01

Although social and nonsocial fear are discernable as early as preschool, little is known about their distinct associations with developmental outcomes. For example, fear has been identified as a predictor of social anxiety problems, but no work has examined whether social and nonsocial fear make independent contributions to risk. We investigated the extent to which early social and non-social fear were associated with socially anxious behaviors during kindergarten. To do this, we identified distinct trajectories of social and nonsocial fear across toddlerhood and preschool. Only social fear was associated with socially anxious behaviors at ages 2 and 5. Because the ability to regulate fear contributes to the degree to which fearful children are at risk for anxiety problems, we also tested whether an early-developing aspect of self-regulation modulated associations between early fear and kindergarten socially anxious behaviors. Specifically, we tested whether inhibitory control differentially modulated associations between early levels of social and nonsocial fear and socially anxious behaviors during kindergarten. Associations between trajectories of early social fear and age 5 socially anxious behaviors were moderated by individual differences in inhibitory control. Consistent with previous research showing associations between overcontrol and anxiety symptoms, more negative outcomes were observed when stable, high levels of social fear across childhood were coupled with high levels of inhibitory control. Results suggest that the combination of social fear and overcontrol reflect a profile of early risk for the development of social inhibition and social anxiety problems. PMID:27213729

Beliefs Associated with Support for Child-Centred Learning Environment among Hong Kong Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, Sum Kwing; Ling, Elsa Ka-wei; Leung, Suzannie Kit Ying

2017-01-01

The physical, social and temporal dimensions of the classroom environment have an important role in children's learning. This study examines the level of support for child-centred learning, and its associated beliefs, that is provided by Hong Kong's pre-service early childhood teachers. Two hundred and seventy-five students from a pre-service…

Towards an understanding of the role of the environment in the development of early callous behavior

PubMed Central

Waller, Rebecca; Shaw, Daniel S.; Neiderhiser, Jenae M.; Ganiban, Jody M.; Natsuaki, Misaki N.; Reiss, David; Trentacosta, Christopher; Leve, Leslie D.; Hyde, Luke W.

2015-01-01

Key to understanding the long-term impact of social inequalities is identifying early behaviors that may signal higher risk for later poor psychosocial outcomes, such as psychopathology. A set of early-emerging characteristics that may signal risk for later externalizing psychopathology is Callous-Unemotional (CU) behavior. CU behavior predict severe and chronic trajectories of externalizing behaviors in youth. However, much research on CU behavior has focused on late childhood and adolescence, with little attention paid to early childhood when preventative interventions may be most effective. In this paper, we summarize our recent work showing that: (1) CU behavior can be identified in early childhood using items from common behavior checklists; (2) CU behavior predicts worse outcomes across early childhood; (3) CU behavior exhibits a distinct nomological network from other early externalizing behaviors; and (4) malleable environmental factors, particularly parenting, may play a role in the development of early CU behaviors. We discuss the challenges of studying contextual contributors to the development of CU behavior in terms of gene-environment correlations and present initial results from work examining CU behavior in an adoption study in which gene-environment correlations are examined in early childhood. We find that parenting is a predictor of early CU behavior even in a sample in which parents are not genetically related to the children. PMID:26291075

The Early Entrance Option: Academic and Social/Emotional Outcomes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braymen, Rebecca K. F.; Piersel, Wayne C.

1987-01-01

Examines how early kindergarten entrants fare academically and socially/emotionally in their schooling. Screening procedures are used to identify children with exceptional ability and to eliminate from early entrance children likely to have adjustment difficulties. The screening battery includes measurements of academic readiness, social/emotional…

Social Status, Perceived Social Reputations, and Perceived Dyadic Relationships in Early Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Badaly, Daryaneh; Schwartz, David; Gorman, Andrea Hopmeyer

2012-01-01

This investigation examined social acceptance and popularity as correlates of perceived social reputations and perceived dyadic relationships in a cross-sectional sample of 418 6th and 7th grade students (approximate average age of 12 years). We assessed early adolescents' social status using peer nominations and measured their perceptions of…

Assessing Home Environment for Early Child Development in Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nadeem, Sanober; Rafique, Ghazala; Khowaja, Liaquat; Yameen, Anjum

2014-01-01

Family environment plays a very important role in early child development and the availability of stimulating material in the early years of a child's life is crucial for optimising development. The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) inventory is one of the most widely used measures to assess the quality and quantity of…

Early preschool environments and gender: Effects of gender pedagogy in Sweden.

PubMed

Shutts, Kristin; Kenward, Ben; Falk, Helena; Ivegran, Anna; Fawcett, Christine

2017-10-01

To test how early social environments affect children's consideration of gender, 3- to 6-year-old children (N=80) enrolled in gender-neutral or typical preschool programs in the central district of a large Swedish city completed measures designed to assess their gender-based social preferences, stereotypes, and automatic encoding. Compared with children in typical preschools, a greater proportion of children in the gender-neutral school were interested in playing with unfamiliar other-gender children. In addition, children attending the gender-neutral preschool scored lower on a gender stereotyping measure than children attending typical preschools. Children at the gender-neutral school, however, were not less likely to automatically encode others' gender. The findings suggest that gender-neutral pedagogy has moderate effects on how children think and feel about people of different genders but might not affect children's tendency to spontaneously notice gender. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rat pup social motivation: A critical component of early psychological development

PubMed Central

Cromwell, Howard Casey

2011-01-01

Examining the role of the offspring in early social dynamics is especially difficult. Human developmental psychology has found infant behavior to be a vital part of the early environmental setting. In the rodent model, the different ways that a rodent neonate or pup can influence social dynamics are not well known. Typically, litters of neonates or pups offer complex social interactions dominated by behavior seemingly initiated and maintained by the primary caregiver (e.g., the dam). Despite this strong role for the caregiver, the young most likely influence the litter dynamics in many powerful ways including communication signals, discrimination abilities and early approach behavior. Nelson and Panksepp (1996) developed a preference task to examine early rodent pup social motivation. We have used the same task to examine how variations in maternal care or different environmental perturbations could alter the rat pup preferences for social-related stimuli. Rat pups receiving low levels of maternal licking and grooming were impaired in maternal odor cue learning and emitted lower levels of 22 kHz ultrasounds compared to pups from the high licking and grooming cohort. Prenatal stress or early exposure to a toxicant (polychlorinated biphenyl) altered early social preferences in the rat pup in different ways indicating that diverse strategies are expressed and specific to the type of perturbation exposure. A greater focus on the offspring motivation following early ‘stressors’ will allow for more complete understanding of the dynamics in behavior during early social development. PMID:21251926

Preventive child health care findings on early childhood predict peer-group social status in early adolescence.

PubMed

Jaspers, Merlijne; de Winter, Andrea F; Veenstra, René; Ormel, Johan; Verhulst, Frank C; Reijneveld, Sijmen A

2012-12-01

A disputed social status among peers puts children and adolescents at risk for developing a wide range of problems, such as being bullied. However, there is a lack of knowledge about which early predictors could be used to identify (young) adolescents at risk for a disputed social status. The aim of this study was to assess whether preventive child health care (PCH) findings on early childhood predict neglected and rejected status in early adolescence in a large longitudinal community-based sample. Data came from 898 participants who participated in TRAILS, a longitudinal study. Information on early childhood factors was extracted from the charts of routine PCH visits registered between infancy and age of 4 years. To assess social status, peer nominations were used at age of 10-12 years. Multinomial logistic regression showed that children who had a low birth weight, motor problems, and sleep problems; children of parents with a low educational level (odds ratios [ORs] between 1.71 and 2.90); and those with fewer attention hyperactivity problems (ORs = .43) were more likely to have a neglected status in early adolescence. Boys, children of parents with a low educational level, and children with early externalizing problems were more likely to have a rejected status in early adolescence (ORs between 1.69 and 2.56). PCH findings on early childhood-on motor and social development-are predictive of a neglected and a rejected status in early adolescence. PCH is a good setting to monitor risk factors that predict the social status of young adolescents. Copyright © 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"I don't need people to tell me I'm pretty on social media:" A qualitative study of social media and body image in early adolescent girls.

PubMed

Burnette, C Blair; Kwitowski, Melissa A; Mazzeo, Suzanne E

2017-12-01

Social media appear to contribute to body dissatisfaction in adolescents, although few empirical studies exist. This study used six focus groups (total N=38) to explore relations between social media use and body image in early adolescent girls (ages 12-14). Thematic analysis identified patterns in the data. In this sample, social media use was high. Girls endorsed some appearance concerns and social comparison, particularly with peers. However, they displayed high media literacy, appreciation of differences, and confidence, strategies that appeared helpful in mitigating the potential negative association between social media exposure and body image. Girls reported these characteristics were nurtured by positive parental influence and a supportive school environment. Results support an ecological approach to the prevention of body dissatisfaction. Although peer influence strengthens throughout adolescence, current findings suggest that parents and the school environment are associated with girls' attitudes and behaviors regarding social media and body image. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Young adults' recreational social environment as a predictor of ecstasy use initiation: findings of a population-based prospective study.

PubMed

Smirnov, Andrew; Najman, Jake M; Hayatbakhsh, Reza; Wells, Helene; Legosz, Margot; Kemp, Robert

2013-10-01

To examine prospectively the contribution of the recreational social environment to ecstasy initiation. Population-based retrospective/prospective cohort study. Data from screening an Australian young adult population to obtain samples of users and non-users of ecstasy. A sample of 204 ecstasy-naive participants aged 19-23 years was obtained, and a 6-month follow-up identified those who initiated ecstasy use. We assessed a range of predictors of ecstasy initiation, including elements of participants' social environment, such as ecstasy-using social contacts and involvement in recreational settings. More than 40% of ecstasy-naive young adults reported ever receiving ecstasy offers. Ecstasy initiation after 6 months was predicted independently by having, at recruitment, many ecstasy-using social contacts [adjusted relative risk (ARR) 3.15, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.57, 6.34], attending electronic/dance music events (ARR 6.97, 95% CI: 1.99, 24.37), receiving an ecstasy offer (ARR 4.02, 95% CI: 1.23, 13.10), early cannabis use (ARR 4.04, 95% CI: 1.78, 9.17) and psychological distress (ARR 5.34, 95% CI: 2.31, 12.33). Adjusted population-attributable fractions were highest for ecstasy-using social contacts (17.7%) and event attendance (15.1%). In Australia, ecstasy initiation in early adulthood is associated predominantly with social environmental factors, including ecstasy-using social contacts and attendance at dance music events, and is associated less commonly with psychological distress and early cannabis use, respectively. A combination of universal and targeted education programmes may be appropriate for reducing rates of ecstasy initiation and associated harms. © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Professional Socialization Experiences of Early Career Urban Physical Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flory, Sara Barnard

2016-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine how three physical education (PE) teachers' professional socialization programmes influenced their early careers in urban schools in the US. Using cultural relevance theory and occupational socialization theory, three early career PE teachers were observed and interviewed for a period of six weeks each.…

The Davis Social Environment. A Report of Student Opinions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Low, Jane M.

The perceptions of undergraduates regarding the social environment of the University of California-Davis campus are presented, based on a student opinion survey. The extent and nature of social integration among undergraduates is discussed, with a focus on whether the social environment differs among ethnic groups (Black, Chicano, Asian, and…

Programming social, cognitive, and neuroendocrine development by early exposure to novelty.

PubMed

Tang, Akaysha C; Akers, Katherine G; Reeb, Bethany C; Romeo, Russell D; McEwen, Bruce S

2006-10-17

Mildly stressful early life experiences can potentially impact a broad range of social, cognitive, and physiological functions in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents. Recent rodent studies favor a maternal-mediation hypothesis that considers maternal-care differences induced by neonatal stimulation as the cause of individual differences in offspring development. Using neonatal novelty exposure, a neonatal stimulation paradigm that dissociates maternal individual differences from a direct stimulation effect on the offspring, we investigated the effect of early exposures to novelty on a diverse range of psychological functions using several assessment paradigms. Pups that received brief neonatal novelty exposures away from the home environment showed enhancement in spatial working memory, social competition, and corticosterone response to surprise during adulthood compared with their home-staying siblings. These functional enhancements in novelty-exposed rats occurred despite evidence that maternal care was directed preferentially toward home-staying instead of novelty-exposed pups, indicating that greater maternal care is neither necessary nor sufficient for these early stimulation-induced functional enhancements. We suggest a unifying maternal-modulation hypothesis, which distinguishes itself from the maternal-mediation hypothesis in that (i) neonatal stimulation can have direct effects on pups, cumulatively leading to long-term improvement in adult offspring; and (ii) maternal behavior can attenuate or potentiate these effects, thereby decreasing or increasing this long-term functional improvement.

Early afterglows in wind environments revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Y. C.; Wu, X. F.; Dai, Z. G.

2005-10-01

When a cold shell sweeps up the ambient medium, a forward shock and a reverse shock will form. We analyse the reverse-forward shocks in a wind environment, including their dynamics and emission. An early afterglow is emitted from the shocked shell, e.g. an optical flash may emerge. The reverse shock behaves differently in two approximations: the relativistic and Newtonian cases, which depend on the parameters, e.g. the initial Lorentz factor of the ejecta. If the initial Lorentz factor is much less than 114E1/453Δ-1/40,12A-1/4*,-1, the early reverse shock is Newtonian. This may take place for the wider of a two-component jet, an orphan afterglow caused by a low initial Lorentz factor and so on. The synchrotron self-absorption effect is significant especially for the Newtonian reverse shock case, as the absorption frequency νa is larger than the cooling frequency νc and the minimum synchrotron frequency νm for typical parameters. For the optical to X-ray band, the flux is nearly unchanged with time during the early period, which may be a diagnostic for the low initial Lorentz factor of the ejecta in a wind environment. We also investigate the early light curves with different wind densities and compare them with those in the interstellar medium model.

How Genes and the Social Environment Moderate Each Other

PubMed Central

Leve, Leslie D.; Neiderhiser, Jenae M.

2013-01-01

Recent research has suggested that the social environment can moderate the expression of genetic influences on health and that genetic influences can shape an individual’s sensitivity to the social environment. Evidence supports 4 major mechanisms: genes can influence an individual’s response to environmental stress, genes may enhance an individual’s sensitivity to both favorable and adverse environments, inherited characteristics may better fit with some environments than with others, and inherited capabilities may only become manifest in challenging or responsive environments. Further progress depends on better recognition of patterns of gene–environment interaction, improved methods of assessing the environment and its impact on genetic mechanisms, the use of appropriately designed laboratory studies, identification of heritable differences in an individual before environmental moderation occurs, and clarification of the timing of the impact of social and genetic moderation. PMID:23927504

Non-Chemical Stressors in a Child's Social Environment ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Non-chemical stressors exist in the built, natural and social environments including physical factors (e.g., noise, temperature and humidity) and psychosocial factors (e.g., poor diet, smoking, illicit drug use)[1]. Scientists study how non-chemical stressors (e.g., social support, stress, exposure to violence) from the social environment (e.g., places where children live, learn, play) affect the biological response to chemical exposures; impacting children’s health[2-5]. Poster for the 2017 CEHN Conference.

Impact of social preparedness on flood early warning systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girons Lopez, M.; Di Baldassarre, G.; Seibert, J.

2017-01-01

Flood early warning systems play a major role in the disaster risk reduction paradigm as cost-effective methods to mitigate flood disaster damage. The connections and feedbacks between the hydrological and social spheres of early warning systems are increasingly being considered as key aspects for successful flood mitigation. The behavior of the public and first responders during flood situations, determined by their preparedness, is heavily influenced by many behavioral traits such as perceived benefits, risk awareness, or even denial. In this study, we use the recency of flood experiences as a proxy for social preparedness to assess its impact on the efficiency of flood early warning systems through a simple stylized model and implemented this model using a simple mathematical description. The main findings, which are based on synthetic data, point to the importance of social preparedness for flood loss mitigation, especially in circumstances where the technical forecasting and warning capabilities are limited. Furthermore, we found that efforts to promote and preserve social preparedness may help to reduce disaster-induced losses by almost one half. The findings provide important insights into the role of social preparedness that may help guide decision-making in the field of flood early warning systems.

From Personal to Social: Learning Environments that Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camacho, Mar; Guilana, Sonia

2011-01-01

VLE (Virtual Learning Environments) are rapidly falling short to meet the demands of a networked society. Web 2.0 and social networks are proving to offer a more personalized, open environment for students to learn formally as they are already doing informally. With the irruption of social media into society, and therefore, education, many voices…

The Social Validity of Bug-in-Ear Coaching: Findings from Two Studies Implemented in Inclusive Early Childhood Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ottley, Jennifer R.; Coogle, Christan Grygas; Rahn, Naomi L.

2015-01-01

Coaching is a promising method for providing professional development, which takes many forms. One such form is real-time coaching through bug-in-ear technology. This study explored the social validity of bug-in-ear coaching when provided as a form of professional development with preservice and in-service early childhood educators. Data from two…

Persistent social isolation reflects identity and social context but not maternal effects or early environment.

PubMed

Brent, L J N; Ruiz-Lambides, A; Platt, M L

2017-12-19

Individuals who are well integrated into society have greater access to resources and tend to live longer. Why some individuals are socially isolated and others are not is therefore puzzling from an evolutionary perspective. Answering this question requires establishing the mix of intrinsic and contextual factors that contribute to social isolation. Using social network data spanning up to half of the median adult lifespan in a gregarious primate, we found that some measures of social isolation were modestly repeatable within individuals, consistent with a trait. By contrast, social isolation was not explained by the identity of an animal's mother or the group into which it was born. Nevertheless, age, sex and social status each played a role, as did kin dynamics and familiarity. Females with fewer close relatives were more isolated, and the more time males spent in a new group the less isolated they became, independent of their social status. These results show that social isolation results from a combination of intrinsic and environmental factors. From an evolutionary perspective, these findings suggest that social isolation could be adaptive in some contexts and partly maintained by selection.

Social Interaction Development through Immersive Virtual Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Jason; Wendt, Jeremy

2014-01-01

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if participants could improve their social interaction skills by participating in a virtual immersive environment. The participants used a developing virtual reality head-mounted display to engage themselves in a fully-immersive environment. While in the environment, participants had an opportunity…

The Social Validity of Bug-in-Ear Coaching: Findings from Two Studies Implemented in Inclusive Early Childhood Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ottley, Jennifer Riggie; Coogle, Christan Grygas; Rahn, Naomi L.

2015-01-01

Coaching is a promising method for providing professional development, which takes many forms. One such form is real-time coaching through bug-in-ear technology. This study explored the social validity of bug-in-ear coaching when provided as a form of professional development with pre-service and in-service early childhood educators. Data from two…

Review of Non-Chemical Stressors from the Social Environment

EPA Science Inventory

Non-chemical stressors (e.g., noise, diet, temperature, overcrowding) are found in the built, natural and social environments. Correlations between exposure to non-chemical stressors in the social environment (e.g., SES, exposure to violence, acculturation) and negative health ou...

Could the early environment of Mars have supported the development of life?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mckay, Christopher P.; Stoker, Carol R.

1990-01-01

The environment of Mars and its correlation to the origin of life on earth are examined. Evidence of liquid water and nitrogen on early Mars is discussed. The similarities between the early Mars and early earth environments are described.

Psychosocial Mechanisms Linking the Social Environment to Mental Health in African Americans.

PubMed

Mama, Scherezade K; Li, Yisheng; Basen-Engquist, Karen; Lee, Rebecca E; Thompson, Deborah; Wetter, David W; Nguyen, Nga T; Reitzel, Lorraine R; McNeill, Lorna H

2016-01-01

Resource-poor social environments predict poor health, but the mechanisms and processes linking the social environment to psychological health and well-being remain unclear. This study explored psychosocial mediators of the association between the social environment and mental health in African American adults. African American men and women (n = 1467) completed questionnaires on the social environment, psychosocial factors (stress, depressive symptoms, and racial discrimination), and mental health. Multiple-mediator models were used to assess direct and indirect effects of the social environment on mental health. Low social status in the community (p < .001) and U.S. (p < .001) and low social support (p < .001) were associated with poor mental health. Psychosocial factors significantly jointly mediated the relationship between the social environment and mental health in multiple-mediator models. Low social status and social support were associated with greater perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and perceived racial discrimination, which were associated with poor mental health. Results suggest the relationship between the social environment and mental health is mediated by psychosocial factors and revealed potential mechanisms through which social status and social support influence the mental health of African American men and women. Findings from this study provide insight into the differential effects of stress, depression and discrimination on mental health. Ecological approaches that aim to improve the social environment and psychosocial mediators may enhance health-related quality of life and reduce health disparities in African Americans.

Psychosocial Mechanisms Linking the Social Environment to Mental Health in African Americans

PubMed Central

Basen-Engquist, Karen; Lee, Rebecca E.; Thompson, Deborah; Wetter, David W.; Reitzel, Lorraine R.

2016-01-01

Resource-poor social environments predict poor health, but the mechanisms and processes linking the social environment to psychological health and well-being remain unclear. This study explored psychosocial mediators of the association between the social environment and mental health in African American adults. African American men and women (n = 1467) completed questionnaires on the social environment, psychosocial factors (stress, depressive symptoms, and racial discrimination), and mental health. Multiple-mediator models were used to assess direct and indirect effects of the social environment on mental health. Low social status in the community (p < .001) and U.S. (p < .001) and low social support (p < .001) were associated with poor mental health. Psychosocial factors significantly jointly mediated the relationship between the social environment and mental health in multiple-mediator models. Low social status and social support were associated with greater perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and perceived racial discrimination, which were associated with poor mental health. Results suggest the relationship between the social environment and mental health is mediated by psychosocial factors and revealed potential mechanisms through which social status and social support influence the mental health of African American men and women. Findings from this study provide insight into the differential effects of stress, depression and discrimination on mental health. Ecological approaches that aim to improve the social environment and psychosocial mediators may enhance health-related quality of life and reduce health disparities in African Americans. PMID:27119366

Precedents of perceived social support: personality and early life experiences.

PubMed

Kitamura, T; Kijima, N; Watanabe, K; Takezaki, Y; Tanaka, E

1999-12-01

In order to examine the effects of personality and early life experiences on perceived social support, a total of 97 young Japanese women were investigated. Current interpersonal relationships were measured by an interview modified from Henderson et al.'s Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI). Personality was measured by Cloninger et al.'s Temperament and Character Inventory. Early life experiences at home and outside of home were also identified in the interview. The number of sources of perceived support was correlated with self-directness, while satisfaction with perceived support was correlated with novelty seeking and with low harm avoidance. No early life experiences--early loss of a parent, perceived parenting, childhood abuse experiences, experiences of being bullied and/or other life events--showed significant correlations with the number or satisfaction of supportive people. The quantity and quality of perception of social support differ in their link to personality, and perceived social support may, to some extent, be explainable in terms of personality.

Maternal environment alters social interactive traits but not open-field behavior in Fischer 344 rats.

PubMed

Yamamuro, Yutaka

2008-10-01

Although it is recognized that the genetic background governs behavioral phenotypes, environmental factors also play a critical role in the development of various behavioral processes. The maternal environment has a major impact on pups, and the cross-fostering procedure is used to determine the influence of early life experiences. The present study examined the influence of maternal environment on behavioral traits in inbred Fischer 344 (F344) rats. F344/DuCrlCrlj and Wistar (Crlj:WI) pups were fostered from postnatal day 1 as follows: Wistar pups raised by Wistar dams, F344 raised by Wistar, Wistar raised by F344, and F344 raised by F344. At 10 weeks of age, rats were randomly assigned to an open-field test and social interaction test. In the open-field test, irrespective of the rearing conditions, the activity during the first 1 min was significantly lower in F344 rats than in Wistar rats. Latency to the onset of movement showed no difference between groups. In the social interaction test, the recognition performance during the first 1 min in F344 raised by F344 was significantly shorter than that in the other groups. The onset of recognition to a novel social partner in F344 raised by F344 was significantly delayed, and the delay disappeared upon cross-fostering by Wistar dams. These results raise the possibility that the behavioral phenotype of F344 rats results from the interplay of genetic factors and maternal environment during early life, and that F344 rats are a strain with high susceptibility to rearing conditions for the formation of their emotionality.

Adolescents' social environment and depression: social networks, extracurricular activity, and family relationship influences.

PubMed

Mason, Michael J; Schmidt, Christopher; Abraham, Anisha; Walker, Leslie; Tercyak, Kenneth

2009-12-01

The present study examined components of adolescents' social environment (social network, extracurricular activities, and family relationships) in association with depression. A total of 332 adolescents presenting for a routine medical check-up were self-assessed for social network risk (i.e., smoking habits of best male and female friends), extracurricular activity level (i.e., participation in organized sports teams, clubs, etc.), family relationship quality (i.e., cohesion and conflict), and symptoms of depression (i.e., minimal, mild, moderate/severe). Results of a forward linear regression modeling indicate that social environment components were associated with a significant proportion of the variance in adolescent depression (Adjusted R (2) = .177, p < or = .05). Specifically, adolescent females (beta = .166, p < .01) and those having more smokers in their social network (beta = .107, p < .05) presented with significantly greater depression symptoms. Conversely, adolescents who engaged in more extracurricular activities (beta = -.118, p < .05) and experienced higher quality family relationships (beta = -.368, p < .001) presented with significantly lower depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the important role that the social environment plays in adolescent depression, as well as yields new insights into socially-based intervention targets that may ameliorate adolescent depression. These intervention targets may be gender-specific, include positive social network skills training, increase adolescents' engagement in organized activities, and attend to the quality of their family relationships.

Financial Capability in Early Social Work Practice: Lessons for Today.

PubMed

Stuart, Paul H

2016-10-01

During the profession's first decades, social workers tried to improve their clients’ financial capability (FC). This article describes the methods used by early social workers who attempted to enhance the FC of their clients, based on contemporary descriptions of their practice. Social workers initially emphasized thrift, later adding more sophisticated consideration of the cost of foods, rent, and other necessities. Social work efforts were furthered by home economists, who served as specialists in nutrition, clothing, interior design, and other topics related to homemaking. Early home economists included specialists in nutrition and family budgeting; these specialists worked with social services agencies to provide a financial basis for family budgets and assisted clients with family budgeting. Some agencies engaged home economists as consultants and as direct providers of instruction on home budgets for clients. By the 1930s, however, social work interest in family budget problems focused on the psychological meaning of low income to the client, rather than in measures to increase client FC. Consequently, social workers’ active engagement with family budget issues—engagement that characterized earlier decades—faded. These early efforts can inform contemporary practice as social workers are once again concerned about improving their clients’ FC.

Developing learning environments which support early algebraic reasoning: a case from a New Zealand primary classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunter, Jodie

2014-12-01

Current reforms in mathematics education advocate the development of mathematical learning communities in which students have opportunities to engage in mathematical discourse and classroom practices which underlie algebraic reasoning. This article specifically addresses the pedagogical actions teachers take which structure student engagement in dialogical discourse and activity which facilitates early algebraic reasoning. Using videotaped recordings of classroom observations, the teacher and researcher collaboratively examined the classroom practices and modified the participatory practices to develop a learning environment which supported early algebraic reasoning. Facilitating change in the classroom environment was a lengthy process which required consistent and ongoing attention initially to the social norms and then to the socio-mathematical norms. Specific pedagogical actions such as the use of specifically designed tasks, materials and representations and a constant press for justification and generalisation were required to support students to link their numerical understandings to algebraic reasoning.

Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garbarino, James

The mere act of living in today's society is dangerous to the health and well-being of children and adolescents. The concept of the socially toxic environment is offered as a parallel to the environmental movement's analysis of physical toxicity. Social life is more risky than it was just 40 years ago, and the level of social and cultural poison…

Friendships Moderate Psychosocial Maladjustment in Socially Anxious Early Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erath, Stephen A.; Flanagan, Kelly S.; Bierman, Karen L.; Tu, Kelly M.

2010-01-01

Close mutual friendships may help protect socially anxious early adolescents against concurrent psychosocial risks. This study investigated whether close mutual friendships moderated associations among social anxiety and several indices of psychosocial maladjustment (loneliness, peer victimization, and low social self-efficacy) in early…

Early Childhood Socialization: Societal Context and Childrearing Values in Hungary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brayfield, April; Korintus, Marta

2011-01-01

This article examines the socio-cultural context of early childhood socialization in Hungary. Using a macroscopic lens, we describe the national demographic situation and the social organization of early childhood education and care. Our analysis then shifts to a microscopic focus on parental values and beliefs about the substance of what young…

The effect of social environment on markers of vascular oxidative stress and inflammation in the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit.

PubMed

Nation, Daniel A; Gonzales, Julie A; Mendez, Armando J; Zaias, Julia; Szeto, Angela; Brooks, Larry G; Paredes, Jamespaul; D'Angola, Alyssa; Schneiderman, Neil; McCabe, Philip M

2008-04-01

Previous research demonstrated that social environment can influence progression of atherosclerosis in the Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbit. This study examined the effect of social environment on markers of oxidative stress and inflammation to clarify the physiological pathways potentially responsible for the influence of social environment on disease. WHHL rabbits were assigned to 1 of 3 social groups: an unstable group, in which unfamiliar rabbits were paired daily, with the pairing switched each week; a stable group, in which littermates were paired daily; and an individually-caged group. The stable group engaged in more affiliative social behavior than the unstable group. The unstable group showed more agonistic behavior compared with the stable group and higher C-reactive protein levels than the individually caged group. The individually caged group was behaviorally sedentary, had higher 24-hour urinary catecholamine levels than the other groups, and exhibited higher NAD(P)H-oxidase activity in the aortic arch relative to the stable group. The results suggest that social environment creates distinct behavioral contexts that can affect markers of inflammation and oxidative stress early in the development of atherosclerosis. Specifically, physical inactivity associated with individual caging affects indices of oxidative stress and inflammation. These pathophysiological markers may help to explain behaviorally related differences in the extent of atherosclerosis observed in prior studies.

Birth Weight and Social Trust in Adulthood: Evidence for Early Calibration of Social Cognition.

PubMed

Petersen, Michael Bang; Aarøe, Lene

2015-11-01

Social trust forms the fundamental basis for social interaction within societies. Understanding the cognitive architecture of trust and the roots of individual differences in trust is of key importance. We predicted that one of the factors calibrating individual levels of trust is the intrauterine flow of nutrients from mother to child as indexed by birth weight. Birth weight forecasts both the future external environment and the internal condition of the individual in multiple ways relevant for social cognition. Specifically, we predicted that low birth weight is utilized as a forecast of a harsh environment, vulnerable condition, or both and, consequently, reduces social trust. The results of the study reported here are consistent with this prediction. Controlling for many confounds through sibling and panel designs, we found that lower birth weight reduced social trust in adulthood. Furthermore, we obtained tentative evidence that this effect is mitigated if adult environments do not induce stress. © The Author(s) 2015.

Water: The Ideal Early Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grosse, Susan J.

2008-01-01

Bathtubs and swimming pools provide the ideal learning environment for people with special needs. For young preschool children, the activities that take place through water can help them develop physical fitness, facilitate motor development, reinforce perceptual-motor ability, encourage social development, and enhance self-esteem and confidence.…

Maternal Rearing Environment Impacts Autonomic Nervous System Activity

PubMed Central

Bliss-Moreau, Eliza; Moadab, Gilda; Capitanio, John P.

2017-01-01

While it is now well known that social deprivation during early development permanently perturbs affective responding, accumulating evidence suggests that less severe restriction of the early social environment may also have deleterious effects. In the present report, we evaluate the affective responding of rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) infants raised by their mothers in restricted social environments or by their mothers in large social groups by indexing autonomic nervous system activity. Following a 25-hr evaluation of biobehavioral organization, electrocardiogram and an index of respiration were recorded for ten minutes. This allowed for an evaluation of both heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, an index of parasympathetic activity, during a challenging situation. Three to four month old infants raised in restricted social environments had significantly higher heart rates and lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia as compared to infants raised in unrestricted social environments, consistent with a more potent stress response to the procedure. These results are consistent with mounting evidence that the environment in which individuals are raised has important consequences for affective processing. PMID:28369889

Influence of the social environment on children's school travel.

PubMed

McDonald, Noreen C; Deakin, Elizabeth; Aalborg, Annette E

2010-01-01

To analyze the association between parental perceptions of the social environment and walking and biking to school among 10-14-year-olds. Surveys were conducted with 432 parents of 10-14-year-olds in the San Francisco Bay Area during 2006 and 2007; the final sample size was 357. The social environment was measured with a 3-item scale assessing child-centered social control. Unadjusted and adjusted differences in rates of active travel to school were compared between families reporting high levels of social control in their neighborhood and those reporting low or neutral levels of social control. Adjusted differences were computed by matching respondents on child and household characteristics and distance to school. Of children whose parents reported high levels of social control, 37% walked or biked to school, compared with 24% of children whose parents reported low or neutral levels. The adjusted difference between the two groups was 10 percentage points (p=0.04). The association was strongest for girls and non-Hispanic whites. Higher levels of parent-perceived child-centered social control are associated with more walking and biking to school. Increasing physical activity through active travel to school may require intervention programs to address the social environment.

Integrating Computer Technology in Early Childhood Education Environments: Issues Raised by Early Childhood Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Eileen; Specht, Jacqueline; Willoughby, Teena; Mueller, Julie

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the educators' perspectives on the introduction of computer technology in the early childhood education environment. Fifty early childhood educators completed a survey and participated in focus groups. Parallels existed between the individually completed survey data and the focus group discussions. The…

Early Childhood Directors as Socializers of Emotional Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zinsser, Katherine M.; Denham, Susanne A.; Curby, Timothy W.; Chazan-Cohen, Rachel

2016-01-01

Early childhood centres are vibrant social communities where child and adult emotions are integral to learning. Previous research has focused on teaching practices that support children's social-emotional learning; fewer studies have attended to relevant centre-level factors, such as the emotional leadership practices of the centre director. The…

The Exposure Advantage: Early Exposure to a Multilingual Environment Promotes Effective Communication.

PubMed

Fan, Samantha P; Liberman, Zoe; Keysar, Boaz; Kinzler, Katherine D

2015-07-01

Early language exposure is essential to developing a formal language system, but may not be sufficient for communicating effectively. To understand a speaker's intention, one must take the speaker's perspective. Multilingual exposure may promote effective communication by enhancing perspective taking. We tested children on a task that required perspective taking to interpret a speaker's intended meaning. Monolingual children failed to interpret the speaker's meaning dramatically more often than both bilingual children and children who were exposed to a multilingual environment but were not bilingual themselves. Children who were merely exposed to a second language performed as well as bilingual children, despite having lower executive-function scores. Thus, the communicative advantages demonstrated by the bilinguals may be social in origin, and not due to enhanced executive control. For millennia, multilingual exposure has been the norm. Our study shows that such an environment may facilitate the development of perspective-taking tools that are critical for effective communication. © The Author(s) 2015.

34 CFR 303.126 - Early intervention services in natural environments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Early intervention services in natural environments...) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EARLY INTERVENTION... Statewide System Minimum Components of A Statewide System § 303.126 Early intervention services in natural...

34 CFR 303.126 - Early intervention services in natural environments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Early intervention services in natural environments. 303...) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EARLY INTERVENTION... Statewide System Minimum Components of A Statewide System § 303.126 Early intervention services in natural...

34 CFR 303.126 - Early intervention services in natural environments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Early intervention services in natural environments...) OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EARLY INTERVENTION... Statewide System Minimum Components of A Statewide System § 303.126 Early intervention services in natural...

Psychosocial mechanisms linking the social environment to mental health in African Americans

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Resource-poor social environments predict poor health, but the mechanisms and processes linking the social environment to psychological health and well-being remain unclear. This study explored psychosocial mediators of the association between the social environment and mental health in African Amer...

Early social deprivation negatively affects social skill acquisition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Mulenga, Innocent Chitalu; Chidester, Diana Lisensky

2014-03-01

In a highly social species like chimpanzees, the process by which individuals become attuned to their social environment may be of vital importance to their chances of survival. Typically, this socialization process, defined by all acquisition experiences and fine-tuning efforts of social interaction patterns during ontogeny, occurs in large part through parental investment. In this study, we investigated whether maternal presence enhances the socialization process in chimpanzees by comparing the social interactions of orphaned and mother-reared individuals at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia. As response variables, we selected social interactions during which an elaborate level of fine-tuning is assumed to be necessary for sustaining the interaction and preventing escalation: social play. Comparing orphaned (n = 8) to sex- and age-matched mother-reared juvenile chimpanzees (n = 9), we hypothesized that the orphaned juveniles would play less frequently than the mother-reared and would be less equipped for fine-tuning social play (which we assayed by rates of aggression) because of the lack of a safe and facilitating social environment provided by the mother. First, contrary to our hypothesis, results showed that the orphaned juveniles engaged in social play more frequently than the mother-reared juveniles, although for significantly shorter amounts of time. Second, in support of our hypothesis, results showed that social play of the orphaned juveniles more often resulted in aggression than social play of the mother-reared juveniles. In conjunction, these results may indicate that, just like in humans, chimpanzee mothers provide their offspring with adequate social skills that might be of pivotal importance for future challenges like successful group-living and securing competitive fitness advantages.

The Effect of Social Interaction on Learning Engagement in a Social Networking Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Jie; Churchill, Daniel

2014-01-01

This study investigated the impact of social interactions among a class of undergraduate students on their learning engagement in a social networking environment. Thirteen undergraduate students enrolled in a course in a university in Hong Kong used an Elgg-based social networking platform throughout a semester to develop their digital portfolios…

Mechanisms linking the social environment to health in African Americans

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The social environment may influence health directly or indirectly through psychosocial factors, such as perceived stress, depressive symptoms and discrimination. This study explored potential psychosocial mediators of the associations between the social environment and physical and mental health in...

Expert Practitioner's Views about the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Bi Ying; Vong, Keang-ieng; Chen, Yuewen; Li, Kejian

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine the views of 176 expert practitioners on the relevance and feasibility of applying the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (CECERS), which is developed based on the Chinese version of Harms, Clifford, and Cryer's (2005) world renowned Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-revised (ECERS-R). The CECERS…

Clinical symptoms predict concurrent social and global functioning in an early psychosis sample.

PubMed

Cacciotti-Saija, Cristina; Langdon, Robyn; Ward, Philip B; Hickie, Ian B; Guastella, Adam J

2018-04-01

Although well established in chronic schizophrenia, the key determinants of functioning remain unknown during the early phase of a psychotic disorder. The aim of this study was to comprehensively examine the social cognitive, basic neurocognitive and clinical predictors of concurrent social functioning and global functioning in an early psychosis sample. This study examined the relationship between social cognition, basic neurocognition and clinical symptoms with concurrent functioning in 51 early psychosis individuals. Assessments included a range of self-report, observational and clinician-rated measures of cognitive, symptom severity and functioning domains. Results revealed a significant association between self-reported social function and lower levels of both social interaction anxiety and negative psychotic symptoms. A significant association was also observed between lower levels of negative psychotic symptoms and observed social functioning. Lastly, results demonstrated a significant association between reduced negative psychotic symptoms and clinician-rated global functioning. Clinical domains such as negative symptoms and social interaction anxiety significantly contribute to an optimal model predicting outcome during the early phase of a psychotic disorder. These clinical features may also provide useful markers of an individual's capacity for social participation. Clinical implications include the need for early targeted intervention to address social anxiety and negative psychotic symptoms to facilitate optimum patient outcome. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Promoting Social Nurturance and Positive Social Environments to Reduce Obesity in High-Risk Youth.

PubMed

Wilson, Dawn K; Sweeney, Allison M; Kitzman-Ulrich, Heather; Gause, Haylee; St George, Sara M

2017-03-01

Nurturing environments within the context of families, schools, and communities all play an important role in enhancing youth's behavioral choices and health outcomes. The increasing prevalence rates of obesity among youth, especially among low income and ethnic minorities, highlight the need to develop effective and innovative intervention approaches that promote positive supportive environments across different contexts for at-risk youth. We propose that the integration of Social Cognitive Theory, Family Systems Theory, and Self-Determination Theory offers a useful framework for understanding how individual, family, and social-environmental-level factors contribute to the development of nurturing environments. In this paper, we summarize evidence-based randomized controlled trials that integrate positive parenting, motivational, and behavioral skills strategies in different contexts, including primary care, home, community, and school-based settings. Taken together, these studies suggest that youth and parents are most likely to benefit when youth receive individual-level behavioral skills, family-level support and communication, and autonomous motivational support from the broader social environment. Future investigators and healthcare providers should consider integrating these evidence-based approaches that support the effects of positive social climate-based interventions on promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and weight management in youth.

Study of Different Social Rewards Used in Down's Syndrome Children's Early Stimulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanz, Teresa; Menendez, Javier; Rosique, Teresa

2011-01-01

This article describes the results obtained with two types of social rewards used in early stimulation of Down's syndrome children. In the study we focus on the efficiency of the employment of the social rewards or reinforcements used in the early stimulation, bearing in mind that the children with Down's syndrome possess a social development…

Gene-environment interactions and the neurobiology of social conflict.

PubMed

Suomi, Stephen J

2003-12-01

Recent research has disclosed marked individual differences in biobehavioral responses to social conflicts exhibited by rhesus monkeys across the life span. For example, approximately 5-10% of rhesus monkeys growing up in the wild consistently exhibit impulsive and/or inappropriately aggressive responses to mildly stressful situations throughout development; those same individuals also show chronic deficits in their central serotonin metabolism. These characteristic patterns of biobehavioral response emerge early in life and remain remarkably stable from infancy to adulthood. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that although these characteristics are highly heritable, they are also subject to major modification by specific early experiences, particularly those involving early social attachment relationships. Moreover, genetic and early experience factors can interact, often in dramatic fashion. For example, a specific polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene is associated with deficits in early neurobehavioral functioning and serotonin metabolism, extreme aggression, and excessive alcohol consumption among monkeys who experienced insecure early attachment relationships, but not in monkeys who developed secure attachment relationships with their mothers during infancy. Because daughters tend to develop the same type of attachment relationships with their own offspring that they experienced with their mothers early in life, such early experiences provide a possible nongenetic mechanism for transmitting these patterns to subsequent generations.

Exogenous testosterone affects early threat processing in socially anxious and healthy women.

PubMed

van Peer, Jacobien M; Enter, Dorien; van Steenbergen, Henk; Spinhoven, Philip; Roelofs, Karin

2017-10-01

Testosterone plays an important role in social threat processing. Recent evidence suggests that testosterone administration has socially anxiolytic effects, but it remains unknown whether this involves early vigilance or later, more sustained, processing-stages. We investigated the acute effects of testosterone administration on social threat processing in 19 female patients with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and 19 healthy controls. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during an emotional Stroop task with subliminally presented faces. Testosterone induced qualitative changes in early ERPs (<200ms after stimulus onset) in both groups. An initial testosterone-induced spatial shift reflected a change in the basic processing (N170/VPP) of neutral faces, which was followed by a shift for angry faces suggesting a decrease in early threat bias. These findings suggest that testosterone specifically affects early automatic social information processing. The decreased attentional bias for angry faces explains how testosterone can decrease threat avoidance, which is particularly relevant for SAD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) variant rs1042778 moderates the influence of family environment on changes in perceived social support over time.

PubMed

Dobewall, Henrik; Hakulinen, Christian; Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa; Pulkki-Råback, Laura; Seppälä, Ilkka; Lehtimäki, Terho; Raitakari, Olli T; Hintsanen, Mirka

2018-08-01

Lack of social support is an established risk factor across health outcomes, making it important to examine its family environmental and genetic determinants. In a 27-year follow-up of the Young Finns Study (N = 2341), we examined with a latent growth curve model whether genes involved in the oxytocin signaling pathway-namely, oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) variants rs1042778, rs2254298, and rs53576-moderate the effect of early-life social experiences on perceived social support across the life span. Mothers reported the emotional warmth and acceptance towards their children at baseline when the participants were from 3 to 18 years old (1980). Perceived family support and support from friends and peripheral sources were assessed in five follow-ups 18 years apart (1989-2007). Maternal emotional warmth and acceptance predicted the initial level of perceived social support across subscales, while the rate of change in family support was affected by the family environment only if participants carried the T-allele of OXTR rs1042778. This gene-environment interaction was not found for the rate of change in support from friends and peripheral sources and we also did not find associations between latent growth in perceived social support and OXTR variants rs53576 and rs2254298. Selective attrition in perceived social support, maternal emotional warmth and acceptance, gender, and SES. Family environment was assessed by a non-standardized measure. OXTR rs1042778 polymorphism seems to contribute to changes in perceived family support in that way that some individuals (T-allele carriers) 'recover', to some extent, from the effects of early-life social experiences, whereas others (G/G genotype carriers) do not. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Organizational socialization in team sport environments.

PubMed

Benson, A J; Evans, M B; Eys, M A

2016-04-01

Socialization tactics are often used to manage initial group member interactions in a way that facilitates transition experiences. Although this process is heavily researched in organizational contexts, we sought to extend this line of inquiry to sport by examining the nature of socialization tactics used to integrate new members into existing teams. Interviews were conducted with 12 coaches and 12 athletes from several Canadian Interuniversity Sport teams to explore the nature of socialization and the circumstances underscoring why certain approaches are taken over others. A key process involved establishing congruency of role expectations between incoming athletes and group leaders, and socialization processes balanced expectations of conformity with encouragement of individual personalities within the group. A conceptual basis to examine socialization into team sport environments is discussed in relation to the extant organizational theories, and the practical implications of delineating sport socialization tactics are forwarded. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Longitudinal influences of neighbourhood built and social environment on children's weight status.

PubMed

Gose, Maria; Plachta-Danielzik, Sandra; Willié, Bianca; Johannsen, Maike; Landsberg, Beate; Müller, Manfred J

2013-10-15

The objective was to examine longitudinal 4-year-relationships between neighbourhood social environment and children's body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) taking into account the built environment. Furthermore, we have analysed the influence of potential interactions between the social environment and family/social data on children's BMI-SDS. Between 2006-2008 and 2010-2012, anthropometric measurements were conducted among 485 children (age at baseline: 6.1 (5.8-6.4)). Socio-demographic characteristics and perception of residential environment were reported by parents. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine street length, number of food outlets and distance to the nearest playground and park/green space within an 800 m Euclidian buffer of each participant address point. Additional data on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g., traffic density, walkability, crime rates) were obtained from the State Capital of Kiel, Germany. In a multivariate model, walkability, street type, socioeconomic status of the district and perceived frequency of passing trucks/buses were associated with BMI-SDS over 4 years, but only neighbourhood SES had an effect on change in BMI-SDS. However, familial/social factors rather than neighbourhood environment (especially social environment) had an impact on children's BMI-SDS over 4 years. Thus, social inequalities in childhood overweight are only partially explained by social neighbourhood environment.

Early Educational Intervention, Early Cumulative Risk, and the Early Home Environment as Predictors of Young Adult Outcomes within a High-Risk Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pungello, Elizabeth P.; Kainz, Kirsten; Burchinal, Margaret; Wasik, Barbara H.; Sparling, Joseph J.; Ramey, Craig T.; Campbell, Frances A.

2010-01-01

The extent to which early educational intervention, early cumulative risk, and the early home environment were associated with young adult outcomes was investigated in a sample of 139 young adults (age 21) from high-risk families enrolled in randomized trials of early intervention. Positive effects of treatment were found for education attainment,…

Theoretical Foundations for Enhancing Social Connectedness in Online Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slagter van Tryon, Patricia J.; Bishop, M. J.

2009-01-01

Group social structure provides a comfortable and predictable context for interaction in learning environments. Students in face-to-face learning environments process social information about others in order to assess traits, predict behaviors, and determine qualifications for assuming particular responsibilities within a group. In online learning…

The Social Environment and Neurogenesis in the Adult Mammalian Brain

PubMed Central

Lieberwirth, Claudia; Wang, Zuoxin

2012-01-01

Adult neurogenesis – the formation of new neurons in adulthood – has been shown to be modulated by a variety of endogenous (e.g., trophic factors, neurotransmitters, and hormones) as well as exogenous (e.g., physical activity and environmental complexity) factors. Research on exogenous regulators of adult neurogenesis has focused primarily on the non-social environment. More recently, however, evidence has emerged suggesting that the social environment can also affect adult neurogenesis. The present review details the effects of adult–adult (e.g., mating and chemosensory interactions) and adult–offspring (e.g., gestation, parenthood, and exposure to offspring) interactions on adult neurogenesis. In addition, the effects of a stressful social environment (e.g., lack of social support and dominant–subordinate interactions) on adult neurogenesis are reviewed. The underlying hormonal mechanisms and potential functional significance of adult-generated neurons in mediating social behaviors are also discussed. PMID:22586385

Social attention: a possible early indicator of efficacy in autism clinical trials

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

For decades, researchers have sought to clarify the nature of the social communication impairments in autism, highlighting impaired or atypical 'social attention' as a key measurable construct that helps to define the core impairment of social communication. In this paper, we provide an overview of research on social attention impairments in autism and their relation to deficiencies in neural circuitry related to social reward. We offer a framework for considering social attention as a potential moderator or mediator of response to early behavioral intervention, and as an early indicator of efficacy of behavioral and/or pharmacological treatments aimed at addressing the social impairments in autism. PMID:22958480

Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curtis, Deb; Carter, Margie

While the early childhood field has formed standards to help in recognizing quality programs for children, practitioners seldom use values to guide in selection of materials or to help plan early childhood environments. This book draws on a variety of educational approaches, including Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia, to outline hundreds of…

Social environment as a factor affecting exploration and learning in pre-juvenile rats.

PubMed

Modlinska, Klaudia; Stryjek, Rafał; Chrzanowska, Anna; Pisula, Wojciech

2018-08-01

Stress associated with social isolation in early life can lead to disturbances in the emotional regulation in adult rats. However, there are no reports on the impact of isolation from the mother while providing contact with peers. Under such conditions, young individuals have the opportunity to interact with others, are able to develop social behaviour, etc. Yet, there is no stimulation and care provided by the mother. We examined the relative impact of maternal contact and sibling contact in the rarely studied pre-juvenile (3rd and 4th week post birth) period on subsequent development. An experiment was designed to compare the impact of different social environments on the animals' behaviour in adulthood. There were three breeding conditions: young with mother, young with peers, and standard breeding conditions. Adult rats were subjected to a T-Maze test to measure the level of exploratory behaviour. Spatial learning was assessed by placing water bottles in the side corridors. The analysis revealed that a distorted environment during the development process has a negative impact on the rats' emotional regulation and a subtle effect on related aspects of adaptive behaviours (i.e. exploration). In the pre-juvenile period, to some degree, contact with peers may be complementary to the mother's influence. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Promoting Social Nurturance and Positive Social Environments to Reduce Obesity in High Risk Youth

PubMed Central

Wilson, Dawn K.; Sweeney, Allison M.; Kitzman-Ulrich, Heather; Gause, Haylee; St. George, Sara M.

2017-01-01

Nurturing environments within the context of families, schools, and communities all play an important role in enhancing youth’s behavioral choices and health outcomes. The increasing prevalence rates of obesity among youth, especially among low income and ethnic minorities, highlight the need to develop effective and innovative intervention approaches that promote positive supportive environments across different contexts for at risk youth. We propose that the integration of Social Cognitive Theory, Family Systems Theory, and Self-Determination Theory offers a useful framework for understanding how individual, family and social-environmental level factors contribute to the development of nurturing environments. In this paper, we summarize evidence-based randomized controlled trials that integrate positive parenting, motivational, and behavioral skills strategies in different contexts, including primary care, home, community, and school-based settings. Taken together, these studies suggest that youth and parents are most likely to benefit when youth receive individual-level behavioral skills, family-level support and communication, and autonomous motivational support from the broader social environment. Future investigators and health care providers should consider integrating these evidence-based approaches that support the effects of positive social climate-based interventions on promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and weight management in youth. PMID:28229248

Gender and Early Learning Environments. Research on Women and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irby, Beverly, Ed.; Brown, Genevieve H., Ed.

2011-01-01

The Research on Women and Education SIG of the American Educational Research Association presents the third book in its series, Gender and Early Learning Environments. Finding after the publication of Gender and Schooling in the Early Years, the second book in the series, that there was and is a paucity of published literature on early childhood…

Social Studies, Social Competence and Citizenship in Early Childhood Education: Developmental Principles Guide Appropriate Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemple, Kristen M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to examine the nature of appropriate social studies education in the Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten years. The importance of social competence development as a basic foundation of the social studies in the early years of schooling is examined, with particular attention to the commonalities shared between goals and…

Social Environment Shapes the Speed of Cooperation

PubMed Central

Nishi, Akihiro; Christakis, Nicholas A.; Evans, Anthony M.; O’Malley, A. James; Rand, David G.

2016-01-01

Are cooperative decisions typically made more quickly or slowly than non-cooperative decisions? While this question has attracted considerable attention in recent years, most research has focused on one-shot interactions. Yet it is repeated interactions that characterize most important real-world social interactions. In repeated interactions, the cooperativeness of one’s interaction partners (the “social environment”) should affect the speed of cooperation. Specifically, we propose that reciprocal decisions (choices that mirror behavior observed in the social environment), rather than cooperative decisions per se, occur more quickly. We test this hypothesis by examining four independent decision time datasets with a total of 2,088 subjects making 55,968 decisions. We show that reciprocal decisions are consistently faster than non-reciprocal decisions: cooperation is faster than defection in cooperative environments, while defection is faster than cooperation in non-cooperative environments. These differences are further enhanced by subjects’ previous behavior – reciprocal decisions are faster when they are consistent with the subject’s previous choices. Finally, mediation analyses of a fifth dataset suggest that the speed of reciprocal decisions is explained, in part, by feelings of conflict – reciprocal decisions are less conflicted than non-reciprocal decisions, and less decision conflict appears to lead to shorter decision times. PMID:27435940

Let's Go Toy Shopping! Exploring Early Anticipatory Socialization for Careers and Gender Expectations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones-Bodie, Ashley

2016-01-01

Courses: Gender Communication, Communication and Careers, Organizational Communication. Objectives: At the end of the activity, students will be able: to identify and analyze the socialization of gender expectations, to recognize and describe how early this type of socialization can occur, to critique the early socialization of gendered career…

"Doing" Social Justice in Early Childhood: The Potential of Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hard, Louise; Press, Frances; Gibson, Megan

2013-01-01

Early childhood education has long been connected with objectives related to social justice. Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) has its roots in philanthropic and educational reform movements prevalent at the turn of the twentieth century. More recently, with the introduction of the National Early Childhood Reform Agenda, early…

Early Exposure to Dynamic Environments Alters Patterns of Motor Exploration throughout the Lifespan

PubMed Central

Hong, S. Lee; Estrada-Sánchez, Ana María; Barton, Scott J.; Rebec, George V.

2016-01-01

We assessed early rearing conditions on aging-related changes in mouse behavior. Two isolated-housing groups, Running Wheel (IHRW) and Empty Cage (IHEC), were compared against two enriched environments, Static (EEST) and Dynamic (EEDY), both of which included toys and other mice. For EEDY, the location of toys and sources of food and water changed daily, but remained constant for EEST. All mice, randomly assigned to one of the four groups at ~4 weeks of age, remained in their respective environments for 25 weeks followed by single housing in empty cages. Beginning at ~40 weeks of age, all mice were tested at monthly intervals in a plus-shaped maze in which we measured the number of arm entries and the probability of entering a perpendicular arm. Despite making significantly more arm entries than any other group, IHEC mice also were less likely to turn into the left or right arm, a sign of motor inflexibility. Both EEDY and EEST mice showed enhanced turning relative to IHRW and IHEC groups, but only EEDY mice maintained their turning performance for up to ~100 weeks of age. EEDY and EEST mice also were unique in showing an increase in expression of the major glutamate transporter (GLT1) in striatum, but a decrease in motor cortex, suggesting a need for further assessment of environmental manipulations on long-term changes in forebrain glutamate transmission. Our behavioral results indicate that early exposure to continually changing environments, rather than socialization or exercise alone, results in life-long changes in patterns of motor exploration. PMID:26778790

Interactions of sex and early life social experiences at two developmental stages shape nonapeptide receptor profiles.

PubMed

Hiura, Lisa C; Ophir, Alexander G

2018-05-31

Early life social experiences are critical to behavioral and cognitive development, and can have a tremendous influence on developing social phenotypes. Most work has focused on outcomes of experiences at a single stage of development (e.g., perinatal, or post-weaning). Few studies have assessed the impact of social experience at multiple developmental stages and across sex. Oxytocin and vasopressin are profoundly important for modulating social behavior and these nonapeptide systems are highly sensitive to developmental social experience, particularly in brain areas important for social behavior. We investigated whether oxytocin receptor (OTR) and vasopressin receptor (V1aR) distributions of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) change as a function of parental composition within the natal nest or social composition after weaning. We raised pups either in the presence or absence of their fathers. At weaning, offspring were housed either individually or with a same-sex sibling. We also examined whether changes in receptor distributions are sexually dimorphic because the impact of the developmental environment on the nonapeptide system could be sex-dependent. We found that differences in nonapeptide receptor expression were region-, sex-, and rearing condition-specific, indicating a high level of complexity in the ways that early life experiences shape the social brain. We found many more differences in V1aR density compared to OTR density, indicating that nonapeptide receptors demonstrate differential levels of neural plasticity and sensitivity to environmental and biological variables. Our data highlight that critical factors including biological sex and multiple experiences across the developmental continuum interact in complex ways to shape the social brain. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Social conversational skills development in early implanted children.

PubMed

Guerzoni, Letizia; Murri, Alessandra; Fabrizi, Enrico; Nicastri, Maria; Mancini, Patrizia; Cuda, Domenico

2016-09-01

Social conversational skills are a salient aspect of early pragmatic development in young children. These skills include two different abilities, assertiveness and responsiveness. This study investigated the development of these abilities in early implanted children and their relationships with lexical development and some language-sensitive variables. Prospective, observational, nonrandomized study. Participants included 28 children with congenital profound sensorineural hearing loss. The mean age at device activation was 13.3 months (standard deviation [SD] ±4.2). The Social-Conversational Skills Rating Scale was used to evaluate assertiveness and responsiveness. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (Words and Sentences form) was used to analyze the lexical development. The device experience was 12 months for each child, and the mean age at testing was 25.9 months (SD ±4.6). Assertiveness and responsiveness scores were within the normal range of normal-hearing age-matched peers. Age at cochlear implant activation exerted a significant impact, with the highest scores associated to the youngest patients. The residual correlations between assertiveness and responsiveness with the lexical development were positive and strongly significant (r = 0.69 and 0.73, respectively). Preoperative hearing threshold demonstrated an associated significant coefficient on the assertiveness score. Age at diagnosis and maternal education level were not correlated with the social conversational skills. Early-implanted children developed social conversational skills that are similar to normal-hearing peers matched for age 1 year after device activation. Social conversational skills and lexical development were strongly correlated, but the present study design cannot specify the direction of this relationship. Children with better preoperative residual hearing exhibited better assertive ability. 4 Laryngoscope, 126:2098-2105, 2016. © 2015 The American Laryngological

Social anxiety and negative early life events in university students.

PubMed

Binelli, Cynthia; Ortiz, Ana; Muñiz, Armando; Gelabert, Estel; Ferraz, Liliana; S Filho, Alaor; Crippa, José Alexandre S; Nardi, Antonio E; Subirà, Susana; Martín-Santos, Rocío

2012-06-01

There is substantial evidence regarding the impact of negative life events during childhood on the aetiology of psychiatric disorders. We examined the association between negative early life events and social anxiety in a sample of 571 Spanish University students. In a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2007, we collected data through a semistructured questionnaire of sociodemographic variables, personal and family psychiatric history, and substance abuse. We assessed the five early negative life events: (i) the loss of someone close, (ii) emotional abuse, (iii) physical abuse, (iv) family violence, and (v) sexual abuse. All participants completed the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. Mean (SD) age was 21 (4.5), 75% female, LSAS score was 40 (DP = 22), 14.2% had a psychiatric family history and 50.6% had negative life events during childhood. Linear regression analyses, after controlling for age, gender, and family psychiatric history, showed a positive association between family violence and social score (p = 0.03). None of the remaining stressors produced a significant increase in LSAS score (p > 0.05). University students with high levels of social anxiety presented higher prevalence of negative early life events. Thus, childhood family violence could be a risk factor for social anxiety in such a population.

Genetic variation in social environment construction influences the development of aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Saltz, J B

2017-01-01

Individuals are not merely subject to their social environments; they choose and create them, through a process called social environment (or social niche) construction. When genotypes differ in social environment-constructing behaviors, different genotypes are expected to experience different social environments. As social experience often affects behavioral development, quantitative genetics and psychology theories predict that genetic variation in social environment construction should have an important role in determining phenotypic variation; however, this hypothesis has not been tested directly. I identify multiple mechanisms of social environment construction that differ among natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster and investigate their consequences for the development of aggressive behavior. Male genotypes differed in the group sizes that they preferred and in their aggressive behavior; both of these behaviors influenced social experience, demonstrating that these behaviors function as social environment-constructing traits. Further, the effects of social experience—as determined in part by social environment construction—carried over to affect focal male aggression at a later time and with a new opponent. These results provide manipulative experimental support for longstanding hypotheses in psychology, that genetic variation in social environment construction has a causal role in behavioral development. More broadly, these results imply that studies of the genetic basis of complex traits should be expanded to include mechanisms by which genetic variation shapes the environments that individuals experience. PMID:27848947

Enriched environment increases neurogenesis and improves social memory persistence in socially isolated adult mice.

PubMed

Monteiro, Brisa M M; Moreira, Fabrício A; Massensini, André R; Moraes, Márcio F D; Pereira, Grace S

2014-02-01

Social memory consists of the information necessary to identify and recognize cospecifics and is essential to many forms of social interaction. Social memory persistence is strongly modulated by the animal's experiences. We have shown in previous studies that social isolation (SI) in adulthood impairs social memory persistence and that an enriched environment (EE) prevents this impairment. However, the mechanisms involved in the effects of SI and EE on social memory persistence remain unknown. We hypothesized that the mechanism by which SI and EE affect social memory persistence is through their modulation of neurogenesis. To investigate this hypothesis, adult mice were submitted to 7 days of one of the following conditions: group-housing in a standard (GH) or enriched environment (GH+EE); social isolation in standard (SI) or enriched environment (SI+EE). We observed an increase in the number of newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (DG) and glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb (OB) in both GH+EE and SI+EE mice. However, this increase of newborn neurons in the granule cell layer of the OB was restricted to the GH+EE group. Furthermore, both SI and SI+EE groups showed less neurogenesis in the mitral layer of the OB. Interestingly, the performance of the SI mice in the buried food-finding task was inferior to that of the GH mice. To further analyze whether increased neurogenesis is in fact the mechanism by which the EE improves social memory persistence in SI mice, we administered the mitotic inhibitor AraC or saline directly into the lateral ventricles of the SI+EE mice. We found that the AraC treatment decreased cell proliferation in both the DG and OB, and impaired social memory persistence in the SI+EE mice. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that neurogenesis is what supports social memory persistence in socially isolated mice. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using a social capital framework to enhance measurement of the nursing work environment.

PubMed

Sheingold, Brenda Helen; Sheingold, Steven H

2013-07-01

To develop, field test and analyse a social capital survey instrument for measuring the nursing work environment. The concept of social capital, which focuses on improving productive capacity by examining relationships and networks, may provide a promising framework to measure and evaluate the nurse work environment in a variety of settings. A survey instrument for measuring social capital in the nurse work environment was developed by adapting the World Bank's Social Capital - Integrated Questionnaire (SC-IQ). Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were applied to assess the properties of the instrument. The exploratory factor analysis yielded five factors that align well with the social capital framework, while reflecting unique aspects of the nurse work environment. The results suggest that the social capital framework provides a promising context to assess the nurse work environment. Further work is needed to refine the instrument for a diverse range of health-care providers and to correlate social capital measures with quality of patient care. Social capital measurement of the nurse work environment has the potential to provide managers with an enhanced set of tools for building productive capacity in health-care organisations and achieving desired outcomes. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Neighbourhood deprivation and community nutrition environment: associations between the social and built environment and food availability].

PubMed

Latawitz, Toni; Spielau, Ulrike; Lipek, Tobias; Gausche, Ruth; Lück, Martina; Kiess, Wieland; Grande, Gesine; Igel, Ulrike

2018-05-16

Eating habits are influenced by individual socioeconomic status (SES). As the association between neighbourhood characteristics and food availability is still unclear, we investigated the community nutrition environment in different neighbourhoods. Using official data of the city of Leipzig, we selected three neighbourhoods which differed in terms of their social (2 deprived vs. 1 affluent) and built (1 large housing estates vs. 2 historic buildings) environment. Data on food outlets were assessed via direct observation (ground truthing). Social and residential environment characteristics are associated with food availability. The proportion of fast food outlets is higher in deprived neighbourhoods compared to the affluent one (25%, 30.4% vs. 13.5%). Neighbourhoods with historic buildings offer a greater variety of food outlets. The greater availability of unhealthy food may contribute to the development of obesity. Preventive measures should consider the physical and social environment. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Social environments, risk-taking and injury in farm adolescents

PubMed Central

Pickett, William; Berg, Richard L; Marlenga, Barbara

2017-01-01

Background Farm environments are especially hazardous for young people. While much is known about acute physical causes of traumatic farm injury, little is known about social factors that may underlie their aetiology. Objectives In a nationally representative sample of young Canadians aged 11–15 years, we described and compared farm and non-farm adolescents in terms of the qualities of their social environments, engagement in overt multiple risk-taking as well as how such exposures relate aetiologically to their reported injury experiences. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of survey reports from the 2014 (Cycle 7) Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study was conducted. Children (n=2567; 2534 weighted) who reported living or working on farms were matched within schools in a 1:1 ratio with children not living or working on farms. Scales examining quality of social environments and overt risk-taking were compared between the two groups, stratified by gender. We then related the occurrence of any serious injury to these social exposures in direct and interactive models. Results Farm and non-farm children reported social environments that were quite similar, with the exception of overt multiple risk-taking, which was demonstrably higher in farm children of both genders. Engagement in overt risk-taking, but not the other social environmental factors, was strongly and consistently associated with risks for serious injury in farm as well as non-farm children, particularly among males. Conclusions Study findings highlight the strength of associations between overt multiple risk-taking and injury among farm children. This appears to be a normative aspect of adolescent farm culture. PMID:28137978

Social Organization, Physical Environment, and Infant-Caretaker Interaction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodson, R. H.; da Costa-Woodson, E. M.

1984-01-01

Relationships of infant/caretaker interaction with the social organization and the physical environment of the home were examined in rural Malay and Chinese families living in Malaysia. Findings are discussed in terms of the integration of behavioral characteristics, patterns of social organization, and arrangements of the physical environment…

Animal Models of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Impact of the Social Environment

PubMed Central

Kelly, Sandra J.; Goodlett, Charles R.; Hannigan, John H.

2013-01-01

Animal models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have been used to demonstrate the specificity of alcohol’s teratogenic effects and some of the underlying changes in the central nervous system (CNS) and, more recently, to explore ways to ameliorate the effects of alcohol. The main point of this review is to highlight research findings from the animal literature which point to the impact of the social context or social behavior on the effect(s) of alcohol exposure during development, and also to point to research questions about the social environment and effects of prenatal alcohol exposure that remain to be answered. Alcohol exposure during early development alters maternal responding to the exposed pup in a variety of ways and the alteration in maternal responding could alter later stress responsivity and adult maternal and social behavior of the exposed offspring. Environmental enrichment and voluntary exercise have been shown to ameliorate some of alcohol’s impact during development, but the roles of enhanced social interactions in the case of enrichment and of social housing during voluntary exercise need to be more fully delineated. Similarly, the role of social context across the lifespan, such as social housing, social experiences, and contact with siblings, needs further study. Because of findings that alcohol during development alters DNA methylation patterns and that there are alterations in the maternal care of the alcohol-exposed offspring, epigenetic effects and their relationship to social behavior in animal models of FASD are likely to become a fruitful area of research. Because of the simpler social behavior and the short lifespan of rodents, animal models of FASD can be useful in determining how the social context impacts the effects of alcohol exposure during development. PMID:19731387

Music in the Early Years: Pathways into the Social World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ilari, Beatriz

2016-01-01

Two assumptions that underlie much research in early childhood music education are that music is a social endeavor and musical participation is beneficial to children's overall social development. As members of cultural and social groups, young children engage with music in a multitude of ways and with different companions. This article examines…

Rescripting Early Memories Linked to Negative Images in Social Phobia: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wild, Jennifer; Hackmann, Ann; Clark, David M.

2008-01-01

Negative self-images are a maintaining factor in social phobia. A retrospective study (Hackmann, A., Clark, D.M., McManus, F. (2000). Recurrent images and early memories in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 601-610) suggested that the images may be linked to early memories of unpleasant social experiences. This preliminary study…

How does the social environment 'get into the mind'? Epigenetics at the intersection of social and psychiatric epidemiology.

PubMed

Toyokawa, Satoshi; Uddin, Monica; Koenen, Karestan C; Galea, Sandro

2012-01-01

The social environment plays a considerable role in determining major psychiatric disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that features of the social environment modify gene expression independently of the primary DNA sequence through epigenetic processes. Accordingly, dysfunction of epigenetic mechanisms offers a plausible mechanism by which an adverse social environment gets "into the mind" and results in poor mental health. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the studies suggesting that epigenetic changes introduced by the social environment then manifest as psychological consequences. Our goal is to build a platform to discuss the ways in which future epidemiologic studies may benefit from including epigenetic measures. We focus on schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia nervosa, and substance dependence as examples that highlight the ways in which social environmental exposures, mediated through epigenetic processes, affect mental health. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Links between social environment and health care utilization and costs.

PubMed

Brault, Marie A; Brewster, Amanda L; Bradley, Elizabeth H; Keene, Danya; Tan, Annabel X; Curry, Leslie A

2018-01-01

The social environment influences health outcomes for older adults and could be an important target for interventions to reduce costly medical care. We sought to understand which elements of the social environment distinguish communities that achieve lower health care utilization and costs from communities that experience higher health care utilization and costs for older adults with complex needs. We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach. We classified community performance based on three outcomes: rate of hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions, all-cause risk-standardized hospital readmission rates, and Medicare spending per beneficiary. We conducted in-depth interviews with key informants (N = 245) from organizations providing health or social services. Higher performing communities were distinguished by several aspects of social environment, and these features were lacking in lower performing communities: 1) strong informal support networks; 2) partnerships between faith-based organizations and health care and social service organizations; and 3) grassroots organizing and advocacy efforts. Higher performing communities share similar social environmental features that complement the work of health care and social service organizations. Many of the supportive features and programs identified in the higher performing communities were developed locally and with limited governmental funding, providing opportunities for improvement.

People, Places, and Environments: Social Studies and Spanish Cultural Enrichment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helms, Ronald G.; Ankenbauer, Mary

2009-01-01

If the young people are to become effective participants in a democratic society, then social studies must be an essential part of the curriculum in the early childhood/elementary years. In a world that demands independent and cooperative problem solving to address complex social, economic, ethical, and personal concerns, the social studies are as…

Enriching early adult environment affects the copulation behaviour of a tephritid fly.

PubMed

Díaz-Fleischer, Francisco; Arredondo, José; Aluja, Martín

2009-07-01

Early adult experiences in enriched environments favours animal brain and behavioural development ultimately resulting in an increased fitness. However, measuring the effect of environmental enrichment in animal behaviour in nature is often a complicated task, considering the complexity of the natural environment. We expanded previous studies to evaluate how early experience in an enriched environment affects copulation behaviour when animals are confronted with a complex semi-natural environment. Anastrepha ludens flies are an ideal model system for studying these effects because their natural habitats differ significantly from the cage environments in which these flies are reared for biological control purposes. For example, in the field, males form leks of up to six individuals. Each male defends a territory represented by a tree leaf whereas in rearing cages, territories are completely reduced because of the high population density. In a series of three experiments, we observed that male density represented the most influential stimulus for A. ludens male copulation success. Males that experienced lower densities in early adulthood obtained the highest proportion of copulations. By contrast, female copulation behaviour was not altered by female density. However, exposure to natural or artificial leaves in cages in which flies were kept until tested influenced female copulation behaviour. Females that were exposed to enriched environments exhibited a shorter latency to mate and shorter copulation durations with males than females reared in poor environments. We discuss the influence of early experience on male copulation success and female-mating choosiness.

Influence of hope, social support, and self-esteem in early stage dementia.

PubMed

Cotter, Valerie T; Gonzalez, Elizabeth W; Fisher, Kathleen; Richards, Kathy C

2018-02-01

Background People in the early stages of dementia adjust to the illness through stages of awareness, coping, and evaluation. Studies have found that hope, social support, and self-esteem facilitate coping, adjustment, and adaptation in chronic illness. Objective The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the relationships between hope, social support, and self-esteem in individuals with early stage dementia. Methods Data were obtained from 53 individuals with early stage dementia. The scores on the Herth Hope Index, Social Support Questionnaire Short-Form, and the State Self-Esteem Scale were analyzed using linear regression. Results Hope was moderately associated with self-esteem ( r = .49, p < .001). Hope accounted for 25% of the variance in self-esteem and was a key component in predicting self-esteem. No significant relationship was found between social support and self-esteem. Conclusion Findings suggest that hope may be an important factor to help individuals manage potential threats to self-esteem in the experience of early stage dementia. Strategies to inspire hope and then enhance self-esteem are promising for individuals living with early stage dementia.

Assessment and Implications of Social Avoidance in Chinese Early Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sang, Biao; Ding, Xuechen; Coplan, Robert J.; Liu, Junsheng; Pan, Tingting; Feng, Xingyi

2018-01-01

The goals of the present study were to (a) develop and validate a new self-report measure of social avoidance for use among early adolescents in mainland China and (b) explore the links between subtypes of social withdrawal (i.e., shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance) and indices of socio-emotional difficulties in this cultural context.…

Social environments, risk-taking and injury in farm adolescents.

PubMed

Pickett, William; Berg, Richard L; Marlenga, Barbara

2017-12-01

Farm environments are especially hazardous for young people. While much is known about acute physical causes of traumatic farm injury, little is known about social factors that may underlie their aetiology. In a nationally representative sample of young Canadians aged 11-15 years, we described and compared farm and non-farm adolescents in terms of the qualities of their social environments, engagement in overt multiple risk-taking as well as how such exposures relate aetiologically to their reported injury experiences. Cross-sectional analysis of survey reports from the 2014 (Cycle 7) Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study was conducted. Children (n=2567; 2534 weighted) who reported living or working on farms were matched within schools in a 1:1 ratio with children not living or working on farms. Scales examining quality of social environments and overt risk-taking were compared between the two groups, stratified by gender. We then related the occurrence of any serious injury to these social exposures in direct and interactive models. Farm and non-farm children reported social environments that were quite similar, with the exception of overt multiple risk-taking, which was demonstrably higher in farm children of both genders. Engagement in overt risk-taking, but not the other social environmental factors, was strongly and consistently associated with risks for serious injury in farm as well as non-farm children, particularly among males. Study findings highlight the strength of associations between overt multiple risk-taking and injury among farm children. This appears to be a normative aspect of adolescent farm culture. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Social Early Stimulation of Trisomy-21 Babies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aparicio, Maria Teresa Sanz; Balana, Javier Menendez

2003-01-01

This study was initiated with twenty Down's syndrome babies to verify whether subjects undergoing social early stimulation would benefit from this type of treatment. An experimental study was designed with two training groups: visual or written instructions. The analyses of the results established statistically significant differences in the…

Elevated Social Anxiety among Early Maturing Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blumenthal, Heidemarie; Leen-Feldner, Ellen W.; Babson, Kimberly A.; Gahr, Jessica L.; Trainor, Casey D.; Frala, Jamie L.

2011-01-01

Adolescence is a key period in terms of the development of anxiety psychopathology. An emerging literature suggests that early pubertal maturation is associated with enhanced vulnerability for anxiety symptomatology, although few studies have examined this association with regard to social anxiety. Accordingly, the current study was designed to…

Early-life experience affects honey bee aggression and resilience to immune challenge

PubMed Central

Rittschof, Clare C.; Coombs, Chelsey B.; Frazier, Maryann; Grozinger, Christina M.; Robinson, Gene E.

2015-01-01

Early-life social experiences cause lasting changes in behavior and health for a variety of animals including humans, but it is not well understood how social information ‘‘gets under the skin’’ resulting in these effects. Adult honey bees (Apis mellifera) exhibit socially coordinated collective nest defense, providing a model for social modulation of aggressive behavior. Here we report for the first time that a honey bee’s early-life social environment has lasting effects on individual aggression: bees that experienced high-aggression environments during pre-adult stages showed increased aggression when they reached adulthood relative to siblings that experienced low-aggression environments, even though all bees were kept in a common environment during adulthood. Unlike other animals including humans however, high-aggression honey bees were more, rather than less, resilient to immune challenge, assessed as neonicotinoid pesticide susceptibility. Moreover, aggression was negatively correlated with ectoparasitic mite presence. In honey bees, early-life social experience has broad effects, but increased aggression is decoupled from negative health outcomes. Because honey bees and humans share aspects of their physiological response to aggressive social encounters, our findings represent a step towards identifying ways to improve individual resiliency. Pre-adult social experience may be crucial to the health of the ecologically threatened honey bee. PMID:26493190

Fostering a Social Child with Autism: A Moment-by-Moment Sequential Analysis of an Early Social Engagement Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vernon, Ty W.

2014-01-01

Young children with autism often experience limited social motivation and responsiveness that restricts establishment of crucial social momentum. These characteristics can lead to decreased opportunities for parental engagement and the social learning associated with these moments. Early social interventions that capitalize on pre-existing…

Biological, environmental, and social influences on childhood obesity.

PubMed

Campbell, M Karen

2016-01-01

The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased globally over the past three decades, with evidence of recent leveling off in developed countries. Reduction in the, currently high, prevalence of obesity will require a full understanding of the biological and social pathways to obesity in order to develop appropriately targeted prevention strategies in early life. Determinants of childhood obesity include individual level factors, including biological, social, and behavioral risks, acting within the influence of the child's family environment, which is, in turn, imbedded in the context of the community environment. These influences act across childhood, with suggestions of early critical periods of biological and behavioral plasticity. There is evidence of sex and gender differences in the responses of boys and girls to their environments. The evidence that determinants of childhood obesity act at many levels and at different stages of childhood is of policy relevance to those planning early health promotion and primary prevention programs as it suggests the need to address the individual, the family, the physical environment, the social environment, and social policy. The purpose of this narrative review is to summarize current, and emerging, literature in a multilevel, life course framework.

Early Family Environments of Obese and Non-Obese College Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hailey, B. Jo; Sison, Gustave F. P., Jr.

Although case studies and anecdotal information have suggested that differences exist between the early family environments of obese and non-obese individuals, no experimental research exists. Undergraduates completed the Family Environment Scale (FES) and a questionnaire concerning past and present weight information. Subjects were classified as…

Longitudinal Influences of Neighbourhood Built and Social Environment on Children’s Weight Status

PubMed Central

Gose, Maria; Plachta-Danielzik, Sandra; Willié, Bianca; Johannsen, Maike; Landsberg, Beate; Müller, Manfred J.

2013-01-01

The objective was to examine longitudinal 4-year-relationships between neighbourhood social environment and children’s body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) taking into account the built environment. Furthermore, we have analysed the influence of potential interactions between the social environment and family/social data on children’s BMI-SDS. Between 2006–2008 and 2010–2012, anthropometric measurements were conducted among 485 children (age at baseline: 6.1 (5.8–6.4)). Socio-demographic characteristics and perception of residential environment were reported by parents. Geographic Information Systems were used to examine street length, number of food outlets and distance to the nearest playground and park/green space within an 800 m Euclidian buffer of each participant address point. Additional data on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g., traffic density, walkability, crime rates) were obtained from the State Capital of Kiel, Germany. In a multivariate model, walkability, street type, socioeconomic status of the district and perceived frequency of passing trucks/busses were associated with BMI-SDS over 4 years, but only neighbourhood SES had an effect on change in BMI-SDS. However, familial/social factors rather than neighbourhood environment (especially social environment) had an impact on children’s BMI-SDS over 4 years. Thus, social inequalities in childhood overweight are only partially explained by social neighbourhood environment. PMID:24132135

Early Career Patterns for Social Work Graduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Mi Jin; Urbanski, Paul; Fortune, Anne E.; Rogers, Crystal

2015-01-01

This study examines master's of social work graduates' early careers. Six cohorts graduating from 2002 through 2007 (N = 246) completed a questionnaire 9-15 months after graduation. Most reported adequate or exceptional preparation on both generalist and advanced concentration practice behaviors. Almost all direct practice graduates and 2/3 of…

The moderator-mediator role of social support in early adolescents.

PubMed

Yarcheski, A; Mahon, N E

1999-10-01

The purpose of this study was to examine social support as both a mediator and a moderator of the relationship between perceived stress and symptom patterns in early adolescents. Data were collected from 148 early adolescent boys and girls, ages 12 to 14, who responded to the Perceived Stress Scale, the Personal Resource Questionnaire 85-Part II, and the Symptom Pattern Scale. Using multiple regression analysis procedures specified for the testing of moderation and mediation, results indicated that social support did not play a moderating role in the relationship between perceived stress and symptom patterns, but social support did play a mediating role in this relationship. The findings are interpreted within the two major theoretical orientations that guided the study.

Early Childhood Teachers' Socialization of Emotion: Contextual and Individual Contributors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denham, Susanne A.; Bassett, Hideko H.; Miller, Susanne L.

2017-01-01

Background: Preschoolers' emotional competence is of prime importance in their concurrent and later social and academic success. Parents are primary socializers of these abilities, but more and more early childhood educators are also important in their development. However, their means of socializing emotional competence are understudied, and…

Social Anxiety and Peer Relations in Early Adolescence: Behavioral and Cognitive Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erath, Stephen A.; Flanagan, Kelly S.; Bierman, Karen L.

2007-01-01

This study investigated factors associated with social anxiety during early adolescence using multiple informants, including self and peer perspectives, teacher ratings, and direct observations. Negative social performance expectations, maladaptive coping strategies, and social skill deficits were examined as correlates of social anxiety and…

Non-Chemical Stressors in a Child’s Social Environment

EPA Science Inventory

Non-chemical stressors exist in the built, natural and social environments including physical factors (e.g., noise, temperature and humidity) and psychosocial factors (e.g., poor diet, smoking, illicit drug use)[1]. Scientists study how non-chemical stressors (e.g., social suppor...

Co-Evolution of Social Learning and Evolutionary Preparedness in Dangerous Environments

PubMed Central

Lindström, Björn; Selbing, Ida; Olsson, Andreas

2016-01-01

Danger is a fundamental aspect of the lives of most animals. Adaptive behavior therefore requires avoiding actions, objects, and environments associated with danger. Previous research has shown that humans and non-human animals can avoid such dangers through two types of behavioral adaptions, (i) genetic preparedness to avoid certain stimuli or actions, and (ii) social learning. These adaptive mechanisms reduce the fitness costs associated with danger but still allow flexible behavior. Despite the empirical prevalence and importance of both these mechanisms, it is unclear when they evolve and how they interact. We used evolutionary agent-based simulations, incorporating empirically based learning mechanisms, to clarify if preparedness and social learning typically both evolve in dangerous environments, and if these mechanisms generally interact synergistically or antagonistically. Our simulations showed that preparedness and social learning often co-evolve because they provide complimentary benefits: genetic preparedness reduced foraging efficiency, but resulted in a higher rate of survival in dangerous environments, while social learning generally came to dominate the population, especially when the environment was stochastic. However, even in this case, genetic preparedness reliably evolved. Broadly, our results indicate that the relationship between preparedness and social learning is important as it can result in trade-offs between behavioral flexibility and safety, which can lead to seemingly suboptimal behavior if the evolutionary environment of the organism is not taken into account. PMID:27487079

Co-Evolution of Social Learning and Evolutionary Preparedness in Dangerous Environments.

PubMed

Lindström, Björn; Selbing, Ida; Olsson, Andreas

2016-01-01

Danger is a fundamental aspect of the lives of most animals. Adaptive behavior therefore requires avoiding actions, objects, and environments associated with danger. Previous research has shown that humans and non-human animals can avoid such dangers through two types of behavioral adaptions, (i) genetic preparedness to avoid certain stimuli or actions, and (ii) social learning. These adaptive mechanisms reduce the fitness costs associated with danger but still allow flexible behavior. Despite the empirical prevalence and importance of both these mechanisms, it is unclear when they evolve and how they interact. We used evolutionary agent-based simulations, incorporating empirically based learning mechanisms, to clarify if preparedness and social learning typically both evolve in dangerous environments, and if these mechanisms generally interact synergistically or antagonistically. Our simulations showed that preparedness and social learning often co-evolve because they provide complimentary benefits: genetic preparedness reduced foraging efficiency, but resulted in a higher rate of survival in dangerous environments, while social learning generally came to dominate the population, especially when the environment was stochastic. However, even in this case, genetic preparedness reliably evolved. Broadly, our results indicate that the relationship between preparedness and social learning is important as it can result in trade-offs between behavioral flexibility and safety, which can lead to seemingly suboptimal behavior if the evolutionary environment of the organism is not taken into account.

Perceived neighborhood social resources as determinants of prosocial behavior in early adolescence.

PubMed

Lenzi, Michela; Vieno, Alessio; Perkins, Douglas D; Pastore, Massimiliano; Santinello, Massimo; Mazzardis, Sonia

2012-09-01

The present study aims to develop an integrative model that links neighborhood behavioral opportunities and social resources (neighborhood cohesion, neighborhood friendship and neighborhood attachment) to prosocial (sharing, helping, empathic) behavior in early adolescence, taking into account the potential mediating role of perceived support of friends. Path analysis was used to test the proposed theoretical model in a sample of 1,145 Italian early adolescents (6th through 8th graders). More perceived opportunities and social resources in the neighborhood are related to higher levels of adolescent prosocial behavior, and this relationship is partially mediated by perceived social support from friends. The results offer promising implications for future research and intervention programs that aim to modify social systems to improve child and adolescent social competencies.

Moving policies upstream to mitigate the social determinants of early childbearing.

PubMed

SmithBattle, Lee

2012-01-01

The teen birth rate in the United States is one of the highest in the post-industrialized world. International comparisons suggest that U.S. rates reflect high levels of social disadvantage and misguided policies that frame teen parenting as costly for mothers, children, and taxpayers. Studies that control for background factors that predispose teens to become parents highlight the social inequities that contribute to early childbearing and unfavorable maternal-child outcomes, regardless of maternal age. After reviewing these studies, federal policies that target and scrutinize teenage and single mothers are described and critiqued for the ways they disregard the social determinants of early childbearing and further the marginalization and social exclusion of low-income families. This review calls for public health nurses to challenge the ideological assumptions driving downstream policies and to advocate for comprehensive reforms that reduce the wide and growing inequities in education, income, and health among U.S. citizens. Building the public support and political will to move upstream will remain daunting in light of the pervasive stereotypes of teen parents and the ideological assumptions that early childbearing and poor maternal-child outcomes stem more from individual choices and lifestyles than from social inequities. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of Early Literacy Environments on the Reading Attitudes, Behaviours and Values of Veteran Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levitt, Roberta; Red Owl, R. H.

2013-01-01

Research has linked early literacy environments to the attitudes, behaviours and instructional values of reading teachers, but most prior research has addressed preservice or early inservice teachers. This mixed-methods, hypothesis-generating, "Q" methodology-based study explored the relationship between early literacy environments and…

Attentional avoidance of fearful facial expressions following early life stress is associated with impaired social functioning.

PubMed

Humphreys, Kathryn L; Kircanski, Katharina; Colich, Natalie L; Gotlib, Ian H

2016-10-01

Early life stress is associated with poorer social functioning. Attentional biases in response to threat-related cues, linked to both early experience and psychopathology, may explain this association. To date, however, no study has examined attentional biases to fearful facial expressions as a function of early life stress or examined these biases as a potential mediator of the relation between early life stress and social problems. In a sample of 154 children (ages 9-13 years) we examined the associations among interpersonal early life stressors (i.e., birth through age 6 years), attentional biases to emotional facial expressions using a dot-probe task, and social functioning on the Child Behavior Checklist. High levels of early life stress were associated with both greater levels of social problems and an attentional bias away from fearful facial expressions, even after accounting for stressors occurring in later childhood. No biases were found for happy or sad facial expressions as a function of early life stress. Finally, attentional biases to fearful faces mediated the association between early life stress and social problems. Attentional avoidance of fearful facial expressions, evidenced by a bias away from these stimuli, may be a developmental response to early adversity and link the experience of early life stress to poorer social functioning. © 2016 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Immediate early gene expression reveals interactions between social and nicotine rewards on brain activity in adolescent male rats

PubMed Central

Goenaga, Julianna; Hatch, Kayla N.; Henricks, Angela; Scott, Samantha; Hood, Lauren E.; Neisewander, Janet L.

2016-01-01

Smoking initiation predominantly occurs during adolescence, often in the presence of peers. Therefore, understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the rewarding effects of nicotine and social stimuli is vital. Using the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure, we measured immediate early gene (IEG) expression in animals following exposure either to a reward-conditioned environment or to the unconditioned stimuli (US). Adolescent, male rats were assigned to the following CPP US conditions: (1) Saline + Isolated, (2) Nicotine + Isolated, (3) Saline + Social, or (4) Nicotine + Social. For Experiment 1, brain tissue was collected 90 min following the CPP expression test and processed for Fos immunohistochemistry. We found that rats conditioned with nicotine with or without a social partner exhibited CPP; however, we found no group differences in Fos expression in any brain region analyzed, with the exception of the nucleus accumbens core that exhibited a social-induced attenuation in Fos expression. For Experiment 2, brain tissue was collected 90 min following US exposure during the last conditioning session. We found social reward-induced increases in IEG expression in striatal and amydalar subregions. In contrast, nicotine reduced IEG expression in prefrontal and striatal subregions. Reward interactions were also found in the dorsolateral striatum, basolateral amygdala, and ventral tegmental area where nicotine alone attenuated IEG expression and social reward reversed this effect. These results suggest that in general social rewards enhance, whereas nicotine attenuates, activation of mesocorticolimbic regions; however, the rewards given together interact to enhance activation in some regions. The findings contribute to knowledge of how a social environment influences nicotine effects. PMID:27435419

Developmental social isolation affects adult behavior, social interaction, and dopamine metabolite levels in zebrafish.

PubMed

Shams, Soaleha; Amlani, Shahid; Buske, Christine; Chatterjee, Diptendu; Gerlai, Robert

2018-01-01

The zebrafish is a social vertebrate and an excellent translational model for a variety of human disorders. Abnormal social behavior is a hallmark of several human brain disorders. Social behavioral problems can arise as a result of adverse early social environment. Little is known about the effects of early social isolation in adult zebrafish. We compared zebrafish that were isolated for either short (7 days) or long duration (180 days) to socially housed zebrafish, testing their behavior across ontogenesis (ages 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 days), and shoal cohesion and whole-brain monoamines and their metabolites in adulthood. Long social isolation increased locomotion and decreased shoal cohesion and anxiety in the open-field in adult. Additionally, both short and long social isolation reduced dopamine metabolite levels in response to social stimuli. Thus, early social isolation has lasting effects in zebrafish, and may be employed to generate zebrafish models of human neuropsychiatric conditions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gender, Expressiveness, Instrumentality, and Group Social Environment as Predictors of Self-Disclosure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kunkle, Suzanne; Gerrity, Deborah A.

1997-01-01

Explores the relationship among self-disclosure, discloser gender, expressiveness, instrumentality, and group social environment in personal growth classes. Focuses on individual personality and group social environment characteristics in an established group. Results indicate that expressiveness, instrumentality, and the relationship dimension of…

The Social World of Preadolescents with Mental Retardation: Social Support, Family Environment and Adjustment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wenz-Gross, Melodie; Siperstein, Gary N.

1996-01-01

Social networks, social supports, family environment, and adjustment among 36 preadolescent students with and without mild mental retardation (MMR) were examined. Students with MMR were more likely to turn to family and adults for companionship, while those without MMR generally turned to peers. Those who received greater support experienced fewer…

The influence of social environment in early life on the behavior, stress response, and reproductive system of adult male Norway rats selected for different attitudes to humans.

PubMed

Gulevich, R G; Shikhevich, S G; Konoshenko, M Yu; Kozhemyakina, R V; Herbeck, Yu E; Prasolova, L A; Oskina, I N; Plyusnina, I Z

2015-05-15

The influence of social disturbance in early life on behavior, response of blood corticosterone level to restraint stress, and endocrine and morphometric indices of the testes was studied in 2-month Norway rat males from three populations: not selected for behavior (unselected), selected for against aggression to humans (tame), and selected for increased aggression to humans (aggressive). The experimental social disturbance included early weaning, daily replacement of cagemates from days 19 to 25, and subsequent housing in twos till the age of 2months. The social disturbance increased the latent period of aggressive behavior in the social interaction test in unselected males and reduced relative testis weights in comparison to the corresponding control groups. In addition, experimental unselected rats had smaller diameters of seminiferous tubules and lower blood testosterone levels. In the experimental group, tame rats had lower basal corticosterone levels, and aggressive animals had lower hormone levels after restraint stress in comparison to the control. The results suggest that the selection in two directions for attitude to humans modifies the response of male rats to social disturbance in early life. In this regard, the selected rat populations may be viewed as a model for investigation of (1) neuroendocrinal mechanisms responsible for the manifestation of aggression and (2) interaction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal systems in stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Constructions of Social Inclusion within Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Policy Documents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Sandie; Turner, Kay

2014-01-01

Social inclusion discourses have been powerful in informing early childhood policy contexts, both internationally and in Australia (the context of the current study) for the past decade or so. But little research has examined the productive aspects of social inclusion discourses particularly within early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy…

Strengthening Social Capital Through Residential Environment Development for Older Chinese in a Canadian Context.

PubMed

Luo, Hai

2016-01-01

Among Canada's visible-minority population 65 years of age or older, nearly four out of ten are Chinese. However, little research has been devoted to the examination of the role of the housing environment in building social capital for older Chinese despite the increase in this population and related social issues. The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese elders' experience of social capital and how it is affected by their residential environment in a Canadian context. In this qualitative study, forty-three Chinese elders in a Canadian context were interviewed with a focus group approach. Findings indicate that the environments in which these older adults lived either hindered or assisted them in building or increasing their social capital. A culturally and linguistically homogeneous residential environment does not necessarily provide positive support to older Chinese for their acquisition of social capital. Adversities in the environment, such as maltreatment or lack of support from their immediate micro environment (family), tended to motivate older adults to improve their social capital for problem-solving. The study offers implications from research findings to social work practice and concludes with an analysis of limitations.

Early experiences matter: a review of the effects of prenatal environment on offspring characteristics in poultry.

PubMed

Dixon, L M; Sparks, N H C; Rutherford, K M D

2016-03-01

Early life experiences can be important in determining offspring phenotypes and may influence interaction with the environment and hence health, welfare, and productivity. The prenatal environment of poultry can be divided into the pre-lay environment and the egg storage/incubation environment, both of which can affect offspring outcomes. The ability to separate maternal and egg/incubation effects makes birds well suited to this type of research. There are many factors, including feeding and nutrition, environmental conditions, husbandry practices, housing system, social environment, infectious environment, and maternal health status, that can influence both the health and performance and behavior and cognition of the offspring. There are some aspects of the environments that can be changed to produce beneficial effects in the offspring, like addition of certain additives to feed or short changes in incubation temperatures, while other aspects should be avoided to reduce negative effects, such as unpredictable feeding and lighting regimens. Measures of offspring characteristics may prove to be a useful method of assessing parent stock welfare if known stressors result in predictable offspring outcomes. This has the advantage of assessing the parent environment without interfering with the animals and possibly affecting their responses and could lead to improved welfare for the animals. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Poultry Science Association.

Early life experience alters behavior during social defeat: focus on serotonergic systems.

PubMed

Gardner, K L; Thrivikraman, K V; Lightman, S L; Plotsky, P M; Lowry, C A

2005-01-01

Early life experience can have prolonged effects on neuroendocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to stress. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of early life experience on behavior during social defeat, as well as on associated functional cellular responses in serotonergic and non-serotonergic neurons within the dorsal raphe nucleus, a structure which plays an important role in modulation of stress-related physiology and behavior. Male Long Evans rat pups were exposed to either normal animal facility rearing or 15 min or 180 min of maternal separation from postnatal days 2-14. As adults, these rats were exposed to a social defeat protocol. Differences in behavior were seen among the early life treatment groups during social defeat; rats exposed to 180 min of maternal separation from postnatal days 2-14 displayed more passive-submissive behaviors and less proactive coping behaviors. Analysis of the distribution of tryptophan hydroxylase and c-Fos-like immunoreactivity in control rats exposed to a novel cage and rats exposed to social defeat revealed that, independent of the early life experience, rats exposed to social defeat showed an increase in the number of c-Fos-like immunoreactive nuclei in serotonergic neurons in the middle and caudal parts of the dorsal dorsal raphe nucleus and caudal part of the ventral dorsal raphe nucleus, regions known to contain serotonergic neurons projecting to central autonomic and emotional motor control systems. This is the first study to show that the dorsomedial part of the mid-rostrocaudal dorsal raphe nucleus is engaged by a naturalistic stressor and supports the hypothesis that early life experience alters behavioral coping strategies during social conflict; furthermore, this study is consistent with the hypothesis that topographically organized subpopulations of serotonergic neurons principally within the mid-rostrocaudal and caudal part of the dorsal dorsal raphe nucleus modulate stress

Early Social Documentary Photography: The Photographs of "Charities," 1897-1909.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bethune, Beverly M.

The preliminary development of social documentary photography can be traced in the early issues of "Charities," a journal established in 1897 by the New York Charity Organization Society. During the journal's earliest years, 1897 to 1902, photography was already associated with social work in the minds of the public; but…

Early alterations of social brain networks in young children with autism

PubMed Central

Kojovic, Nada; Rihs, Tonia Anahi; Jan, Reem Kais; Franchini, Martina; Plomp, Gijs; Vulliemoz, Serge; Eliez, Stephan; Michel, Christoph Martin; Schaer, Marie

2018-01-01

Social impairments are a hallmark of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but empirical evidence for early brain network alterations in response to social stimuli is scant in ASD. We recorded the gaze patterns and brain activity of toddlers with ASD and their typically developing peers while they explored dynamic social scenes. Directed functional connectivity analyses based on electrical source imaging revealed frequency specific network atypicalities in the theta and alpha frequency bands, manifesting as alterations in both the driving and the connections from key nodes of the social brain associated with autism. Analyses of brain-behavioural relationships within the ASD group suggested that compensatory mechanisms from dorsomedial frontal, inferior temporal and insular cortical regions were associated with less atypical gaze patterns and lower clinical impairment. Our results provide strong evidence that directed functional connectivity alterations of social brain networks is a core component of atypical brain development at early stages of ASD. PMID:29482718

Perceptions of social capital and the built environment and mental health.

PubMed

Araya, Ricardo; Dunstan, Frank; Playle, Rebecca; Thomas, Hollie; Palmer, Stephen; Lewis, Glyn

2006-06-01

There has been much speculation about a possible association between the social and built environment and health, but the empirical evidence is still elusive. The social and built environments are best seen as contextual concepts but they are usually estimated as an aggregation of individual compositional measures, such as perceptions on trust or the desirability to live in an area. If these aggregated compositional measures were valid measures, one would expect that they would evince correlations at higher levels of data collection (e.g., neighbourhood). The aims of this paper are: (1) to investigate the factor structure of a self-administered questionnaire measuring individual perceptions of trust, social participation, social cohesion, social control, and the built environment; (2) to investigate variation in these factors at higher than the individual level (households and postcodes) in order to assess if these constructs reflect some contextual effect; and (3) to study the association between mental health, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and these derived factors. A cross-sectional household survey was undertaken during May-August 2001 in a district of South Wales with a population of 140,000. We found that factor analysis grouped our questions in factors similar to the theoretical ones we had previously envisaged. We also found that approximately one-third of the variance for neighbourhood quality and 10% for social control was explained at postcode (neighbourhood) level after adjusting for individual variables, thus suggesting that some of our compositional measures capture contextual characteristics of the built and social environment. After adjusting for individual variables, trust and social cohesion, two key social capital components were the only factors to show statistically significant associations with GHQ-12 scores. However, these factors also showed little variation at postcode levels, suggesting a stronger individual

Assessing the Quality of Early Years Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Glenda; Gardner, John

2005-01-01

This article describes a means of evaluating early years classrooms from the perspective of the child's experience. Nine key themes, such as motivation and independence, are identified as representing significant aspects of a high-quality environment for learning. The manner in which these manifest themselves in relation to the three elements of…

Early Adverse Environments and Genetic Influences on Age at First Sex: Evidence for Gene × Environment Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlson, Marie D.; Mendle, Jane; Harden, K. Paige

2014-01-01

Youth who experience adverse environments in early life initiate sexual activity at a younger age, on average, than those from more advantaged circumstances. Evolutionary theorists have posited that ecological stress precipitates earlier reproductive and sexual onset, but it is unclear how stressful environments interact with genetic influences on…

Neighbourhood green space, social environment and mental health: an examination in four European cities.

PubMed

Ruijsbroek, Annemarie; Mohnen, Sigrid M; Droomers, Mariël; Kruize, Hanneke; Gidlow, Christopher; Gražulevičiene, Regina; Andrusaityte, Sandra; Maas, Jolanda; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J; Triguero-Mas, Margarita; Masterson, Daniel; Ellis, Naomi; van Kempen, Elise; Hardyns, Wim; Stronks, Karien; Groenewegen, Peter P

2017-07-01

This study examines the relationship between neighbourhood green space, the neighbourhood social environment (social cohesion, neighbourhood attachment, social contacts), and mental health in four European cities. The PHENOTYPE study was carried out in 2013 in Barcelona (Spain), Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom), Doetinchem (The Netherlands), and Kaunas (Lithuania). 3771 adults living in 124 neighbourhoods answered questions on mental health, neighbourhood social environment, and amount and quality of green space. Additionally, audit data on neighbourhood green space were collected. Multilevel regression analyses examined the relation between neighbourhood green space and individual mental health and the influence of neighbourhood social environment. Mental health was only related to green (audit) in Barcelona. The amount and quality of neighbourhood green space (audit and perceived) were related to social cohesion in Doetinchem and Stoke-on-Trent and to neighbourhood attachment in Doetinchem. In all four cities, mental health was associated with social contacts. Neighbourhood green was related to mental health only in Barcelona. Though neighbourhood green was related to social cohesion and attachment, the neighbourhood social environment seems not the underlying mechanism for this relationship.

Detecting Rumors Through Modeling Information Propagation Networks in a Social Media Environment.

PubMed

Liu, Yang; Xu, Songhua; Tourassi, Georgia

2015-01-01

In the midst of today's pervasive influence of social media content and activities, information credibility has increasingly become a major issue. Accordingly, identifying false information, e.g. rumors circulated in social media environments, attracts expanding research attention and growing interests. Many previous studies have exploited user-independent features for rumor detection. These prior investigations uniformly treat all users relevant to the propagation of a social media message as instances of a generic entity. Such a modeling approach usually adopts a homogeneous network to represent all users, the practice of which ignores the variety across an entire user population in a social media environment. Recognizing this limitation of modeling methodologies, this study explores user-specific features in a social media environment for rumor detection. The new approach hypothesizes that whether a user tends to spread a rumor is dependent upon specific attributes of the user in addition to content characteristics of the message itself. Under this hypothesis, information propagation patterns of rumors versus those of credible messages in a social media environment are systematically differentiable. To explore and exploit this hypothesis, we develop a new information propagation model based on a heterogeneous user representation for rumor recognition. The new approach is capable of differentiating rumors from credible messages through observing distinctions in their respective propagation patterns in social media. Experimental results show that the new information propagation model based on heterogeneous user representation can effectively distinguish rumors from credible social media content.

Social Withdrawal Subtypes during Early Adolescence in India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowker, Julie C.; Raja, Radhi

2011-01-01

The overarching goal of this study was to examine the associations between three social withdrawal subtypes (shyness, unsociability, avoidance), peer isolation, peer difficulties (victimization, rejection, exclusion, low acceptance), and loneliness in India during early adolescence. Participants were 194 adolescents in Surat, India (M age=13.35…

Social Support Seeking and Early Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Symptoms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vélez, Clorinda E.; Krause, Elizabeth D.; McKinnon, Allison; Brunwasser, Steven M.; Freres, Derek R.; Abenavoli, Rachel M.; Gillham, Jane E.

2016-01-01

This study examined how social support seeking and rumination interacted to predict depression and anxiety symptoms 6 months later in early adolescents (N = 118; 11-14 years at baseline). We expected social support seeking would be more helpful for adolescents engaging in low rather than high levels of rumination. Adolescents self-reported on all…

Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaniewski, David; van Campo, Elise; Morhange, Christophe; Guiot, Joël; Zviely, Dov; Shaked, Idan; Otto, Thierry; Artzy, Michal

2013-12-01

A common belief is that, unlike today, ancient urban areas developed in a sustainable way within the environmental limits of local natural resources and the ecosystem's capacity to respond. This long-held paradigm is based on a weak knowledge of the processes underpinning the emergence of urban life and the rise of an urban-adapted environment in and beyond city boundaries. Here, we report a 6000-year record of environmental changes around the port city of Akko (Acre), Israel, to analyse ecological processes and patterns stemming from the emergence and growth of urban life. We show that early urban development deeply transformed pre-existing ecosystems, swiftly leading to an urban environment already governed by its own ecological rules and this, since the emergence of the cities.

Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments.

PubMed

Kaniewski, David; Van Campo, Elise; Morhange, Christophe; Guiot, Joël; Zviely, Dov; Shaked, Idan; Otto, Thierry; Artzy, Michal

2013-12-18

A common belief is that, unlike today, ancient urban areas developed in a sustainable way within the environmental limits of local natural resources and the ecosystem's capacity to respond. This long-held paradigm is based on a weak knowledge of the processes underpinning the emergence of urban life and the rise of an urban-adapted environment in and beyond city boundaries. Here, we report a 6000-year record of environmental changes around the port city of Akko (Acre), Israel, to analyse ecological processes and patterns stemming from the emergence and growth of urban life. We show that early urban development deeply transformed pre-existing ecosystems, swiftly leading to an urban environment already governed by its own ecological rules and this, since the emergence of the cities.

A Delineation of the Cognitive Processes Manifested in a Social Annotation Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, S. C.; Pow, J. W. C.; Cheung, W. C.

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine how students' learning trajectories progress in an online social annotation environment, and how their cognitive processes and levels of interaction correlate with their learning outcomes. Three different types of activities (cognitive, metacognitive and social) were identified in the online environment. The time…

How Homes Influence Schools: Early Parenting Predicts African American Children's Classroom Social-Emotional Functioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Claire E.; Rimm-Kaufman, Sara E.

2014-01-01

Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort were used to examine the extent to which early parenting predicted African American children's kindergarten social-emotional functioning. Teachers rated children's classroom social-emotional functioning in four areas (i.e., approaches to learning, self-control, interpersonal…

Immediate early gene expression reveals interactions between social and nicotine rewards on brain activity in adolescent male rats.

PubMed

Bastle, Ryan M; Peartree, Natalie A; Goenaga, Julianna; Hatch, Kayla N; Henricks, Angela; Scott, Samantha; Hood, Lauren E; Neisewander, Janet L

2016-10-15

Smoking initiation predominantly occurs during adolescence, often in the presence of peers. Therefore, understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the rewarding effects of nicotine and social stimuli is vital. Using the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure, we measured immediate early gene (IEG) expression in animals following exposure either to a reward-conditioned environment or to the unconditioned stimuli (US). Adolescent, male rats were assigned to the following CPP US conditions: (1) Saline+Isolated, (2) Nicotine+Isolated, (3) Saline+Social, or (4) Nicotine+Social. For Experiment 1, brain tissue was collected 90min following the CPP expression test and processed for Fos immunohistochemistry. We found that rats conditioned with nicotine with or without a social partner exhibited CPP; however, we found no group differences in Fos expression in any brain region analyzed, with the exception of the nucleus accumbens core that exhibited a social-induced attenuation in Fos expression. For Experiment 2, brain tissue was collected 90min following US exposure during the last conditioning session. We found social reward-induced increases in IEG expression in striatal and amydalar subregions. In contrast, nicotine reduced IEG expression in prefrontal and striatal subregions. Reward interactions were also found in the dorsolateral striatum, basolateral amygdala, and ventral tegmental area where nicotine alone attenuated IEG expression and social reward reversed this effect. These results suggest that in general social rewards enhance, whereas nicotine attenuates, activation of mesocorticolimbic regions; however, the rewards given together interact to enhance activation in some regions. The findings contribute to knowledge of how a social environment influences nicotine effects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Do Hostile School Environments Promote Social Deviance by Shaping Neural Responses to Social Exclusion?

PubMed

Schriber, Roberta A; Rogers, Christina R; Ferrer, Emilio; Conger, Rand D; Robins, Richard W; Hastings, Paul D; Guyer, Amanda E

2018-03-01

The present study examined adolescents' neural responses to social exclusion as a mediator of past exposure to a hostile school environment (HSE) and later social deviance, and whether family connectedness buffered these associations. Participants (166 Mexican-origin adolescents, 54.4% female) reported on their HSE exposure and family connectedness across Grades 9-11. Six months later, neural responses to social exclusion were measured. Finally, social deviance was self-reported in Grades 9 and 12. The HSE-social deviance link was mediated by greater reactivity to social deviance in subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, a region from the social pain network also implicated in social susceptibility. However, youths with stronger family bonds were protected from this neurobiologically mediated path. These findings suggest a complex interplay of risk and protective factors that impact adolescent behavior through the brain. © 2018 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Impairment of social and moral behavior related to early damage in human prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Anderson, S W; Bechara, A; Damasio, H; Tranel, D; Damasio, A R

1999-11-01

The long-term consequences of early prefrontal cortex lesions occurring before 16 months were investigated in two adults. As is the case when such damage occurs in adulthood, the two early-onset patients had severely impaired social behavior despite normal basic cognitive abilities, and showed insensitivity to future consequences of decisions, defective autonomic responses to punishment contingencies and failure to respond to behavioral interventions. Unlike adult-onset patients, however, the two patients had defective social and moral reasoning, suggesting that the acquisition of complex social conventions and moral rules had been impaired. Thus early-onset prefrontal damage resulted in a syndrome resembling psychopathy.

Supporting tactical intelligence using collaborative environments and social networking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wollocko, Arthur B.; Farry, Michael P.; Stark, Robert F.

2013-05-01

Modern military environments place an increased emphasis on the collection and analysis of intelligence at the tactical level. The deployment of analytical tools at the tactical level helps support the Warfighter's need for rapid collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence. However, given the lack of experience and staffing at the tactical level, most of the available intelligence is not exploited. Tactical environments are staffed by a new generation of intelligence analysts who are well-versed in modern collaboration environments and social networking. An opportunity exists to enhance tactical intelligence analysis by exploiting these personnel strengths, but is dependent on appropriately designed information sharing technologies. Existing social information sharing technologies enable users to publish information quickly, but do not unite or organize information in a manner that effectively supports intelligence analysis. In this paper, we present an alternative approach to structuring and supporting tactical intelligence analysis that combines the benefits of existing concepts, and provide detail on a prototype system embodying that approach. Since this approach employs familiar collaboration support concepts from social media, it enables new-generation analysts to identify the decision-relevant data scattered among databases and the mental models of other personnel, increasing the timeliness of collaborative analysis. Also, the approach enables analysts to collaborate visually to associate heterogeneous and uncertain data within the intelligence analysis process, increasing the robustness of collaborative analyses. Utilizing this familiar dynamic collaboration environment, we hope to achieve a significant reduction of time and skill required to glean actionable intelligence in these challenging operational environments.

Blindness and social trust: The effect of early visual deprivation on judgments of trustworthiness.

PubMed

Ferrari, C; Vecchi, T; Merabet, L B; Cattaneo, Z

2017-10-01

Investigating the impact of early visual deprivation on evaluations related to social trust has received little attention to date. This is despite consistent evidence suggesting that early onset blindness may interfere with the normal development of social skills. In this study, we investigated whether early blindness affects judgments of trustworthiness regarding the actions of an agent, with trustworthiness representing the fundamental dimension in the social evaluation. Specifically, we compared performance between a group of early blind individuals with that of sighted controls in their evaluation of trustworthiness of an agent after hearing a pair of two positive or two negative social behaviors (impression formation). Participants then repeated the same evaluation following the presentation of a third (consistent or inconsistent) behavior regarding the same agent (impression updating). Overall, blind individuals tended to give similar evaluations compared to their sighted counterparts. However, they also valued positive behaviors significantly more than sighted controls when forming their impression of an agent's trustworthiness. Moreover, when inconsistent information was provided, blind individuals were more prone to revise their initial evaluation compared to controls. These results suggest that early visual deprivation may have a dramatic effect on the evaluation of social factors such as trustworthiness. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MAMMARY GLAND DEVELOPMENT: EARLY LIFE EFFECTS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Mammary Gland Development: Early Life Effects from the Environment

S.E. Fenton. Reproductive Toxicology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory, ORD, U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711.

As signs of precocious puberty in girls reach ...

Social Identity, Autism and Visual Impairment (VI) in the Early Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dale, Naomi; Salt, Alison

2008-01-01

This article explores how visual impairment might impact on early social and emotional development including self-awareness and communication with others. Some children show a "developmental setback" and other worrying developmental trajectories in the early years, including autistic related behaviours and autistic spectrum disorders.…

Perceptions of the hospital ethical environment among hospital social workers in the United States.

PubMed

Pugh, Greg L

2015-01-01

Hospital social workers are in a unique context of practice, and one where the ethical environment has a profound influence on the ethical behavior. This study determined the ratings of ethical environment by hospital social workers in large nationwide sample. Correlates suggest by and compared to studies of ethical environment with nurses are explored. Positive ratings of the ethical environment are primarily associated with job satisfaction, as well as working in a centralized social work department and for a non-profit hospital. Religiosity and MSW education were not predictive. Implications and suggestions for managing the hospital ethical environment are provided.

Promoting language and social communication development in babies through an early storybook reading intervention.

PubMed

Brown, Michelle I; Westerveld, Marleen F; Trembath, David; Gillon, Gail T

2017-12-15

This study examined the effectiveness of low- and high-intensity early storybook reading (ESR) intervention workshops delivered to parents for promoting their babies language and social communication development. These workshops educated parents on how to provide a stimulating home reading environment and engage in parent-child interactions during ESR. Parent-child dyads (n = 32); child age: 3-12 months, were assigned into two intervention conditions: low and high intensity (LI versus HI) groups. Both groups received the same ESR strategies; however, the HI group received additional intervention time, demonstrations and support. Outcome measures were assessed pre-intervention, one and three months post-intervention and when the child turned 2 years of age. A significant time-group interaction with increased performance in the HI group was observed for language scores immediately post-intervention (p = 0.007) and at 2-years-of-age (p = 0.022). Significantly higher broader social communication scores were associated with the HI group at each of the time points (p = 0.018, p = 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively). Simple main effect revealed that both groups demonstrated a significant improvement in language, broader social communication and home reading practices scores. ESR intervention workshops may promote language and broader social communication skills. The HI ESR intervention workshop was associated with significantly higher language and broader social communication scores.

a New Ontological Perspective for Integration of Social and Physical Environments: Disability and Rehabilitation Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gharebaghi, Amin; Abolfazl Mostafavi, Mir

2016-06-01

Social dimension of environment is an important aspect that should be reflected in research works related to studying the interactions between human and the environment. However, this dimension is usually neglected when representing the environment in geographic information systems for different applications. For instance, disability as a result of the interaction between human and environment is influenced by social and physical dimensions of environment. Although, this aspect is highlighted in most conceptual disability models by defining various taxonomies of the environment, from ontological perspective justifying and connecting social dimension to the physical dimension of the environment is not clearly determined. Integrating social dimension of the environment with its physical dimension for disability studies is a challenging task, which is the main objective of the present study. Here, we review some of the disability models and their perspective about classifying the environment. Then, from ontological perspective, their limitations are discussed and a new approach for the classification of concepts form the environment is presented. This approach facilitates and simplifies integration of social dimension in ontologies for more effective assessment of disability issue in Geographic Information System.

Vygotsky and Papert: social-cognitive interactions within Logo environments.

PubMed

Mevarech, Z R; Kramarski, B

1993-02-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of co-operative and individualised Logo environments on creativity and interpersonal relationships regarding academic recognition and social acceptance. Participants were 83 students who studied in three eighth grade classrooms: one was exposed to a co-operative Logo environment (N = 30), the other to an individualised Logo environment (N = 24), and the third served as a non-treatment control group (N = 29). Results showed that students in the cooperative Logo environment outperformed their counterparts in the other two groups on certain measures of creativity (figurative-originality, verbal-flexibility, and verbal-originality). In addition, the co-operative Logo group developed more positive interpersonal relationships than the students in the other two settings. The results are discussed from three perspectives: the social-cognitive approach emphasising the roles of co-operation and metacognition in developing advanced thinking skills; the educational-technology viewpoint demonstrating the potential use of computers; and the pedagogical view pointing out the implications of the study to school situations and heterogeneous classrooms.

Assessing the Nexus of Built, Natural, and Social Environments and Public Health Outcomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Archer, R.; Alexander, S.; Douglas, J.

2017-12-01

This study investigates community-related environmental justice concerns and chemical and non-chemical health stressors from built, natural, and social environments in Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) County and East Oakland, California. The geographical distribution of health outcomes is related to the built and natural environments, as well as impacts from the social environment. A holistic systems view is important in assessing healthy behaviors within a community, because they do not occur in isolation. Geospatial analysis will be performed to integrate a total environment framework and explore the spatial patterns of exposure to chemical and non-chemical stressors and access to health-promoting environments. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis using primary and secondary existing data will be performed to determine how social environments impact exposure to chemical health stressors and access to health-promoting built and natural environments. This project will develop a comprehensive list of health-promoting built and natural environments (e.g., parks and community gardens) and polluting sites (e.g., shipping ports and sources of pollution not included in federal regulatory databases) in East Oakland and SELA. California Department of Public Health and U.S. Decennial Census data will also be included for geospatial analysis to overlay the distribution of air pollution-related morbidities (e.g. asthma, diabetes, and cancer) and access to health-promoting built and natural environments and related community assets, exposure to polluting industries, social disorganization, and public health outcomes in the target areas. This research will help identify the spatial and temporal distribution and cumulative impacts of critical pollution hotspots causing community environmental health impacts. The research team will also map how social environments impact exposure to chemical health stressors and access to health-promoting built and natural environments. The

The Effect of Early Noncognitive Skills on Social Outcomes in Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coneus, Katja; Laucht, Manfred

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the impact of early noncognitive skills on social outcomes in adolescence. The child's attention span, approach, prevailing mood and distractibility in early childhood may be crucial predictors for school achievements, health risk behavior, delinquency and autonomy as adolescent. We investigate this issue using a…

Social constructivist learning environment in an online professional practice course.

PubMed

Sthapornnanon, Nunthaluxna; Sakulbumrungsil, Rungpetch; Theeraroungchaisri, Anuchai; Watcharadamrongkun, Suntaree

2009-02-19

To assess the online social constructivist learning environment (SCLE) and student perceptions of the outcomes of the online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice that was designed based on social constructivism theory. The online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was carefully designed by organizing various activities, which were intended to encourage social interaction among students. The Constructivist Online Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was applied to assess the SCLE. Course evaluation questionnaires were administered to assess student perceptions of this online module. The result from the COLLES illustrated the development of SCLE in the course. The students reported positive perceptions of the course. An online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was effective in promoting SCLE.

Recurrent images and early memories in social phobia.

PubMed

Hackmann, A; Clark, D M; McManus, F

2000-06-01

A recent model [Clark, D. M. & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. Heimberg, M. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp. 69-93). New York: Guildford Press] suggests that a distorted image of one's public self lies at the heart of social phobia. A previous study of spontaneous imagery [Hackmann, A., Surawy, C. & Clark, D. M. (1998) Seeing yourself through others' eyes: a study of spontaneously occurring images in social phobia. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 26, 3-12] confirmed that patients with social phobia frequently report experiencing negative, distorted, observer-perspective images when in anxiety provoking social situations. In the present study, 22 patients with social phobia were given a semistructured interview which aimed to further explore the nature of social phobic imagery. All participants were able to identify negative spontaneous images that were recurrent in the sense that their content appeared to be relatively stable over time and across different feared social situations. Most recurrent images involved several sensory modalities. Most recurrent images were linked to memories of adverse social events that clustered in time around the onset of the disorder. Taken together, the results suggest that in patients with social phobia, early unpleasant experiences may lead to the development of excessively negative images of their social selves that are repeatedly activated in subsequent social situations and fail to update in the light of subsequent, more favourable experiences. Implications of the findings for the understanding and treatment of social phobia are discussed.

Medical education and social environment.

PubMed

Rasool, Ahsan; Qayum, Iftikhar; Ahmad, Ashfaq; Farooq, Umer; Shah, Awais Ali; Waqas, Muhammad; Rasool, Maleeha; Hameed, Sania; Kanwal, Rana; Azmat, Muneeba; Marwat, Saleem; Afridit, Faheem

2014-01-01

A positive learning environment and quality of course content have an imperative role in academic achievement of students. This study aims to assess students' point of view about the quality of education and social environment of a public sector medical college in Pakistan. Relative scarcity of data from students' perspective merited this study. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken at Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad, Pakistan, including 300 medical students from all five years of the MBBS course. Systematic random sampling was used with a kth interval of 4 for each class. Self-administered questionnaire was used and contained items related to academics, learning environment, learning resources, teaching methodologies and student-friendly activities. The data were analysed using SPSS-16. There were 265 respondents (88.3%) to the questionnaire with males accounting for 58.9% (n=156). In general students showed satisfaction with quality of content being taught; however there was discontent towards various academic and non- academic facilities provided to the students. Only 44.10% and 31.50% students reported provision of academic related facilities and interactive sessions as up to mark respectively; 83% students reported that undergraduate medical research was in need of improvement; 55.5% and 60.2% reported that facilities in hostel and recreational facilities needed improvement respectively; and 52.8% students stated presence of a healthy, student friendly, encouraging environment was not up to mark. Although course content and teaching methodologies are generally satisfactory, a healthy, student friendly, encouraging environment is vet to be created to help students foster their abilities completely.

Influence of the environment on participation in social roles for young adults with down syndrome.

PubMed

Foley, Kitty-Rose; Girdler, Sonya; Bourke, Jenny; Jacoby, Peter; Llewellyn, Gwynnyth; Einfeld, Stewart; Tonge, Bruce; Parmenter, Trevor R; Leonard, Helen

2014-01-01

The concept of disability is now understood as a result of the interaction between the individual, features related to impairment, and the physical and social environment. It is important to understand these environmental influences and how they affect social participation. The purpose of this study is to describe the social participation of young adults with Down syndrome and examine its relationship with the physical and social environment. Families ascertained from the Down syndrome 'Needs Opinion Wishes' database completed questionnaires during 2011. The questionnaires contained two parts, young person characteristics and family characteristics. Young adults' social participation was measured using the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H) and the influences of environmental factors were measured by the Measure of the Quality of the Environment (MQE). The analysis involved descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression. Overall, participation in daily activities was higher (mean 6.45) than in social roles (mean 5.17) (range 0 to 9). When the physical and/or social environment was reported as a facilitator, compared to being no influence or a barrier, participation in social roles was greater (coef 0.89, 95%CI 0.28, 1.52, coef 0.83, 95%CI 0.17, 1.49, respectively). The relationships between participation and both the physical (coef 0.60, 95% CI -0.40, 1.24) and social (coef 0.20, 95%CI -0.47, 0.87) environments were reduced when age, gender, behavior and functioning in ADL were taken into account. We found that young adults' participation in social roles was influenced more by the physical environment than by the social environment, providing a potentially modifiable avenue for intervention.

Somatic Complaints in Early Adolescence: The Role of Parents' Emotion Socialization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kehoe, Christiane E.; Havighurst, Sophie S.; Harley, Ann E.

2015-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between parent emotion socialization and youth somatic complaints (SC) in an early adolescent sample using a longitudinal experimental design. An emotion-focused parenting intervention, which taught parent's skills to improve their emotional competence and emotion socialization, was used to examine whether…

Social Validity: Perceptions of Check and Connect with Early Literacy Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miltich Lyst, Aimee; Gabriel, Stacey; O'Shaughnessy, Tam E.; Meyers, Joel; Meyers, Barbara

2005-01-01

This article underscores the potential advantages of qualitative methods to illustrate the depth and complexity of social validity. This investigation evaluates the social validity of Check and Connect with Early Literacy Support (CCEL), through the perspectives of teachers and caregivers whose children participated in the intervention. Teachers…

Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments

PubMed Central

Kaniewski, David; Van Campo, Elise; Morhange, Christophe; Guiot, Joël; Zviely, Dov; Shaked, Idan; Otto, Thierry; Artzy, Michal

2013-01-01

A common belief is that, unlike today, ancient urban areas developed in a sustainable way within the environmental limits of local natural resources and the ecosystem's capacity to respond. This long-held paradigm is based on a weak knowledge of the processes underpinning the emergence of urban life and the rise of an urban-adapted environment in and beyond city boundaries. Here, we report a 6000-year record of environmental changes around the port city of Akko (Acre), Israel, to analyse ecological processes and patterns stemming from the emergence and growth of urban life. We show that early urban development deeply transformed pre-existing ecosystems, swiftly leading to an urban environment already governed by its own ecological rules and this, since the emergence of the cities. PMID:24345820

The Place of Place in Social Work: Rethinking the Person-in-Environment Model in Social Work Education and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akesson, Bree; Burns, Victoria; Hordyk, Shawn-Renee

2017-01-01

Social work's traditional emphasis on the individual in the context of social environments has resulted in a neglect of the person in the context of physical environments. This conceptual article addresses this oversight by presenting three subconcepts of place--place attachment, place identity, and territoriality--and draws on research examples…

Social-cognitive functioning and social skills in patients with early treated phenylketonuria: a PKU-COBESO study.

PubMed

Jahja, Rianne; van Spronsen, Francjan J; de Sonneville, Leo M J; van der Meere, Jaap J; Bosch, Annet M; Hollak, Carla E M; Rubio-Gozalbo, M Estela; Brouwers, Martijn C G J; Hofstede, Floris C; de Vries, Maaike C; Janssen, Mirian C H; van der Ploeg, Ans T; Langendonk, Janneke G; Huijbregts, Stephan C J

2016-05-01

Early treatment of phenylketonuria (ET-PKU) prevents mental retardation, but many patients still show cognitive and mood problems. In this study, it was investigated whether ET-PKU-patients have specific phenylalanine (Phe-)related problems with respect to social-cognitive functioning and social skills. Ninety five PKU-patients (mean age 21.6 ± 10.2 years) and 95 healthy controls (mean age 19.6 ± 8.7 years) were compared on performance of computerized and paper-and-pencil tasks measuring social-cognitive abilities and on parent- and self-reported social skills, using multivariate analyses of variance, and controlling for general cognitive ability (IQ-estimate). Further comparisons were made between patients using tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4, N = 30) and patients not using BH4. Associations with Phe-levels on the day of testing, during childhood, during adolescence and throughout life were examined. PKU-patients showed poorer social-cognitive functioning and reportedly had poorer social skills than controls (regardless of general cognitive abilities). Quality of social-cognitive functioning was negatively related to recent Phe-levels and Phe-levels between 8 and 12 years for adolescents with PKU. Quality of social skills was negatively related to lifetime phenylalanine levels in adult patients, and specifically to Phe-levels between 0 and 7, and between 8 and 12 years. There were no differences with respect to social outcome measures between the BH4 and non-BH4 groups. PKU-patients have Phe-related difficulties with social-cognitive functioning and social skills. Problems seem to be more evident among adolescents and adults with PKU. High Phe-levels during childhood and early adolescence seem to be of greater influence than current and recent Phe-levels for these patients.

Dynamically analyzing cell interactions in biological environments using multiagent social learning framework.

PubMed

Zhang, Chengwei; Li, Xiaohong; Li, Shuxin; Feng, Zhiyong

2017-09-20

Biological environment is uncertain and its dynamic is similar to the multiagent environment, thus the research results of the multiagent system area can provide valuable insights to the understanding of biology and are of great significance for the study of biology. Learning in a multiagent environment is highly dynamic since the environment is not stationary anymore and each agent's behavior changes adaptively in response to other coexisting learners, and vice versa. The dynamics becomes more unpredictable when we move from fixed-agent interaction environments to multiagent social learning framework. Analytical understanding of the underlying dynamics is important and challenging. In this work, we present a social learning framework with homogeneous learners (e.g., Policy Hill Climbing (PHC) learners), and model the behavior of players in the social learning framework as a hybrid dynamical system. By analyzing the dynamical system, we obtain some conditions about convergence or non-convergence. We experimentally verify the predictive power of our model using a number of representative games. Experimental results confirm the theoretical analysis. Under multiagent social learning framework, we modeled the behavior of agent in biologic environment, and theoretically analyzed the dynamics of the model. We present some sufficient conditions about convergence or non-convergence and prove them theoretically. It can be used to predict the convergence of the system.

Social Engagement and Adaptive Functioning during Early Childhood: Identifying and Distinguishing among Subgroups Differing with Regard to Social Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaughn, Brian E.; Santos, António J.; Monteiro, Ligia; Shin, Nana; Daniel, João R.; Krzysik, Lisa; Pinto, Alexandra

2016-01-01

This study tested the hypothesis that social engagement (SE) with peers is a fundamental aspect of social competence during early childhood. Relations between SE and a set of previously validated social competence indicators, as well as additional variables derived from observation and sociometric interviews were assessed using both…

Cognitive Biases and the Link between Shyness and Social Anxiety in Early Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weeks, Murray; Ooi, Laura L.; Coplan, Robert J.

2016-01-01

Shy children display wariness in unfamiliar social situations and often experience feelings of social anxiety. This study explored the potential mediating role of cognitive biases in the link between shyness and social anxiety in early adolescence. In particular, we focused on judgments of the probability and cost of negative social situations…

Using a Total Environment Framework (Built, Natural, Social Environments) to Assess Life-long Health Effects of Chemical Exposures

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPAseeks applications for research on how pollution affects human health in the context of the total environment – built, natural, and social environments interacting together with inherent characteristics and interactions.

Linking Magazine Exposure to Social Appearance Anxiety: The Role of Appearance Norms in Early Adolescence.

PubMed

Trekels, Jolien; Eggermont, Steven

2017-12-01

Early adolescents (N = 1,591; M age  = 11.698; SD = 0.892) participated in a two-wave panel study (6-month interval) to examine the longitudinal association between appearance-focused magazine exposure and social appearance anxiety. We revealed that magazine exposure positively correlated with the internalization of appearance ideals and the attribution of social rewards to attractiveness which, in turn, related to social appearance anxiety. Internalization and attribution of social rewards formed a reinforcing spiral; once internalized, early adolescents associate positive things with appearance ideals (e.g., peer acceptance) and the perception of rewards increases early adolescents' inclination to internalize ideals. Given the adverse consequences of social appearance anxiety, the findings warrant research on the role of media in the occurrence of social appearance anxiety. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Research on Adolescence © 2017 Society for Research on Adolescence.

Integration of the social environment in a mobility ontology for people with motor disabilities.

PubMed

Gharebaghi, Amin; Mostafavi, Mir-Abolfazl; Edwards, Geoffrey; Fougeyrollas, Patrick; Gamache, Stéphanie; Grenier, Yan

2017-07-07

Our contemporary understanding of disability is rooted in the idea that disability is the product of human-environment interaction processes. People may be functionally limited, but this becomes a disability only when they engage with their immediate social and physical environments. Any attempt to address issues of mobility in relation to people with disabilities should be grounded in an ontology that encompasses this understanding. The objective of this study is to provide a methodology to integrate the social and physical environments in the development of a mobility ontology for people with motor disabilities (PWMD). We propose to create subclasses of concepts based on a Nature-Development distinction rather than creating separate social and physical subclasses. This allows the relationships between social and physical elements to be modelled in a more compact and efficient way by specifying them locally within each entity, and better accommodates the complexities of the human-environment interaction as well. Based on this approach, an ontology for mobility of PWMD considering four main elements - the social and physical environmental factors, human factors, life habits related to mobility and possible goals of mobility - is presented. We demonstrate that employing the Nature-Development perspective facilitates the process of developing useful ontologies, especially for defining the relationships between the social and physical parts of the environment. This is a fundamental issue for modelling the interaction between humans and their social and physical environments for a broad range of applications, including the development of geospatial assistive technologies for navigation of PWMD. Implications for rehabilitation The proposed perspective may actually have much broader interests beyond the issue of disability - much of the interesting dynamics in city development arises from the interaction between human-developed components - the built environment and its

Influence of the Environment on Participation in Social Roles for Young Adults with Down Syndrome

PubMed Central

Foley, Kitty-Rose; Girdler, Sonya; Bourke, Jenny; Jacoby, Peter; Llewellyn, Gwynnyth; Einfeld, Stewart; Tonge, Bruce; Parmenter, Trevor R.; Leonard, Helen

2014-01-01

Background The concept of disability is now understood as a result of the interaction between the individual, features related to impairment, and the physical and social environment. It is important to understand these environmental influences and how they affect social participation. The purpose of this study is to describe the social participation of young adults with Down syndrome and examine its relationship with the physical and social environment. Methods Families ascertained from the Down syndrome ‘Needs Opinion Wishes’ database completed questionnaires during 2011. The questionnaires contained two parts, young person characteristics and family characteristics. Young adults’ social participation was measured using the Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H) and the influences of environmental factors were measured by the Measure of the Quality of the Environment (MQE). The analysis involved descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression. Results Overall, participation in daily activities was higher (mean 6.45) than in social roles (mean 5.17) (range 0 to 9). When the physical and/or social environment was reported as a facilitator, compared to being no influence or a barrier, participation in social roles was greater (coef 0.89, 95%CI 0.28, 1.52, coef 0.83, 95%CI 0.17, 1.49, respectively). The relationships between participation and both the physical (coef 0.60, 95% CI −0.40, 1.24) and social (coef 0.20, 95%CI −0.47, 0.87) environments were reduced when age, gender, behavior and functioning in ADL were taken into account. Conclusion We found that young adults’ participation in social roles was influenced more by the physical environment than by the social environment, providing a potentially modifiable avenue for intervention. PMID:25259577

Social environments and interpersonal distance regulation in psychosis: A virtual reality study.

PubMed

Geraets, Chris N W; van Beilen, Marije; Pot-Kolder, Roos; Counotte, Jacqueline; van der Gaag, Mark; Veling, Wim

2018-02-01

Experimentally studying the influence of social environments on mental health and behavior is challenging, as social context is difficult to standardize in laboratory settings. Virtual Reality (VR) enables studying social interaction in terms of interpersonal distance in a more ecologically valid manner. Regulation of interpersonal distance may be abnormal in patients with psychotic disorders and influenced by environmental stress, symptoms or distress. To investigate interpersonal distance in people with a psychotic disorder and at ultrahigh risk for psychosis (UHR) compared to siblings and controls in virtual social environments, and explore the relationship between clinical characteristics and interpersonal distance. Nineteen UHR patients, 52 patients with psychotic disorders, 40 siblings of patients with a psychotic disorder and 47 controls were exposed to virtual cafés. In five virtual café visits, participants were exposed to different levels of social stress, in terms of crowdedness, ethnicity and hostility. Measures on interpersonal distance, distress and state paranoia were obtained. Baseline measures included trait paranoia, social anxiety, depressive, positive and negative symptoms. Interpersonal distance increased when social stressors were present in the environment. No difference in interpersonal distance regulation was found between the groups. Social anxiety and distress were positively associated with interpersonal distance in the total sample. This VR paradigm indicates that interpersonal distance regulation in response to environmental social stressors is unaltered in people with psychosis or UHR. Environmental stress, social anxiety and distress trigger both people with and without psychosis to maintain larger interpersonal distances in social situations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The feasibility and acceptability of virtual environments in the treatment of childhood social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Sarver, Nina Wong; Beidel, Deborah C; Spitalnick, Josh S

2014-01-01

Two significant challenges for the dissemination of social skills training programs are the need to assure generalizability and provide sufficient practice opportunities. In the case of social anxiety disorder, virtual environments may provide one strategy to address these issues. This study evaluated the utility of an interactive virtual school environment for the treatment of social anxiety disorder in preadolescent children. Eleven children with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder between 8 to 12 years old participated in this initial feasibility trial. All children were treated with Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children, an empirically supported treatment for children with social anxiety disorder. However, the in vivo peer generalization sessions and standard parent-assisted homework assignments were substituted by practice in a virtual environment. Overall, the virtual environment programs were acceptable, feasible, and credible treatment components. Both children and clinicians were satisfied with using the virtual environment technology, and children believed it was a high-quality program overall. In addition, parents were satisfied with the virtual environment augmented treatment and indicated that they would recommend the program to family and friends. Findings indicate that the virtual environments are viewed as acceptable and credible by potential recipients. Furthermore, they are easy to implement by even novice users and appear to be useful adjunctive elements for the treatment of childhood social anxiety disorder.

The feasibility and acceptability of virtual environments in the treatment of childhood social anxiety disorder

PubMed Central

Wong, Nina; Beidel, Deborah C.; Spitalnick, Josh

2013-01-01

Objective Two significant challenges for the dissemination of social skills training programs are the need to assure generalizability and provide sufficient practice opportunities. In the case of social anxiety disorder, virtual environments may provide one strategy to address these issues. This study evaluated the utility of an interactive virtual school environment for the treatment of social anxiety disorder in preadolescent children. Method Eleven children with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder between 8 to 12 years old participated in this initial feasibility trial. All children were treated with Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children, an empirically supported treatment for children with social anxiety disorder. However, the in vivo peer generalization sessions and standard parent-assisted homework assignments were substituted by practice in a virtual environment. Results Overall, the virtual environment programs were acceptable, feasible, and credible treatment components. Both children and clinicians were satisfied with using the virtual environment technology, and children believed it was a high quality program overall. Additionally, parents were satisfied with the virtual environment augmented treatment and indicated that they would recommend the program to family and friends. Conclusion Virtual environments are viewed as acceptable and credible by potential recipients. Furthermore, they are easy to implement by even novice users and appear to be useful adjunctive elements for the treatment of childhood social anxiety disorder. PMID:24144182

Social Constructivist Learning Environment in an Online Professional Practice Course

PubMed Central

Sakulbumrungsil, Rungpetch; Theeraroungchaisri, Anuchai; Watcharadamrongkun, Suntaree

2009-01-01

Objective To assess the online social constructivist learning environment (SCLE) and student perceptions of the outcomes of the online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice that was designed based on social constructivism theory. Design The online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was carefully designed by organizing various activities, which were intended to encourage social interaction among students. The Constructivist Online Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) was applied to assess the SCLE. Course evaluation questionnaires were administered to assess student perceptions of this online module. Assessment The result from the COLLES illustrated the development of SCLE in the course. The students reported positive perceptions of the course. Conclusion An online introductory module of pharmacy professional practice in pharmaceutical marketing and business was effective in promoting SCLE. PMID:19513147

Early Adolescent Family Experiences and Perceived Social Support in Young Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gayman, Mathew D.; Turner, R. Jay; Cislo, Andrew M.; Eliassen, A. Henry

2011-01-01

Although the protective role of social support is well established in the health literature, antecedents of perceived social support are not well understood. Research on family experiential factors during early adolescence, an important psychosocial developmental period in the life course, represents a promising line of inquiry. Using a sample of…

Social Environment and Sexual Risk-Taking among Gay and Transgender African American Youth

PubMed Central

Stevens, Robin; Bernadini, Stephen; Jemmott, John B.

2014-01-01

More prevention effort is required as the HIV epidemic increases among gay and transgender African American youth. Using ecological systems theory and an integrative model of behaviour change, this study examines the sexual behaviour of gay and transgender African American young people as embedded within the unique social and structural environments affecting this population. Also examined is the important role played by mobile technology in the social and sexual lives of individuals. Seven focus groups were conducted with 54 African American young adults in a northeastern U.S. city. The findings provide a rich examination of the social and sexual lives of gay and transgender African American youth, focusing on the social environment and the impact of the environment on sexual risk behaviour. PMID:23889233

Social Knowledge Awareness Map for Computer Supported Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Bishouty, Moushir M.; Ogata, Hiroaki; Rahman, Samia; Yano, Yoneo

2010-01-01

Social networks are helpful for people to solve problems by providing useful information. Therefore, the importance of mobile social software for learning has been supported by many researches. In this research, a model of personalized collaborative ubiquitous learning environment is designed and implemented in order to support learners doing…

Social Requirements for Virtual Organization Breeding Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Świerzowicz, Jan; Picard, Willy

The creation of Virtual Breeding Environments (VBE) is a topic which has received too little attention: in most former works, the existence of the VBE is either assumed, or is considered as the result of the voluntary, participatory gathering of a set of candidate companies. In this paper, the creation of a VBE by a third authority is considered: chambers of commerce, as organizations whose goal is to promote and facilitate business interests and activity in the community, could be good candidates for exogenous VBE creators. During VBE planning, there is a need to specify social requirements for the VBE. In this paper, SNA metrics are proposed as a way for a VBE planner to express social requirements for a VBE to be created. Additionally, a set of social requirements for VO planners, VO brokers, and VBE members are proposed.

The Effects of Early Socialization Experiences on Content Mastery and Outcomes: A Mediational Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Howard J.; Fan, Jinyan; Preacher, Kristopher J.

2006-01-01

This field study examined how early socialization experiences affect new employee mastery of socialization content and socialization outcomes. New employees reported the realism of their preentry knowledge and the helpfulness of socialization agents. A follow-up survey assessed mastery of socialization content along with role clarity, job…

Genomic Analysis of Genotype-by-Social Environment Interaction for Drosophila melanogaster Aggressive Behavior.

PubMed

Rohde, Palle Duun; Gaertner, Bryn; Ward, Kirsty; Sørensen, Peter; Mackay, Trudy F C

2017-08-01

Human psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder often include adverse behaviors including increased aggressiveness. Individuals with psychiatric disorders often exhibit social withdrawal, which can further increase the probability of conducting a violent act. Here, we used the inbred, sequenced lines of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) to investigate the genetic basis of variation in male aggressive behavior for flies reared in a socialized and socially isolated environment. We identified genetic variation for aggressive behavior, as well as significant genotype-by-social environmental interaction (GSEI); i.e. , variation among DGRP genotypes in the degree to which social isolation affected aggression. We performed genome-wide association (GWA) analyses to identify genetic variants associated with aggression within each environment. We used genomic prediction to partition genetic variants into gene ontology (GO) terms and constituent genes, and identified GO terms and genes with high prediction accuracies in both social environments and for GSEI. The top predictive GO terms significantly increased the proportion of variance explained, compared to prediction models based on all segregating variants. We performed genomic prediction across environments, and identified genes in common between the social environments that turned out to be enriched for genome-wide associated variants. A large proportion of the associated genes have previously been associated with aggressive behavior in Drosophila and mice. Further, many of these genes have human orthologs that have been associated with neurological disorders, indicating partially shared genetic mechanisms underlying aggression in animal models and human psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2017 by the Genetics Society of America.

Does early communication mediate the relationship between motor ability and social function in children with cerebral palsy?

PubMed

Lipscombe, Belinda; Boyd, Roslyn N; Coleman, Andrea; Fahey, Michael; Rawicki, Barry; Whittingham, Koa

2016-01-01

Children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental conditions such as cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk of experiencing restrictions in social activities negatively impacting their subsequent social functioning. Research has identified motor and communication ability as being unique determinants of social function capabilities in children with CP, to date, no research has investigated whether communication is a mediator of the relationship between motor ability and social functioning. To investigate whether early communication ability at 24 months corrected age (ca.) mediates the relationship between early motor ability at 24 months ca. and later social development at 60 months ca. in a cohort of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP). A cohort of 71 children (43 male) diagnosed with CP (GMFCS I=24, 33.8%, II=9, 12.7%, III=12, 16.9%, IV=10, 14.1%, V=16, 22.5%) were assessed at 24 and 60 months ca. Assessments included the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM), the Communication and Symbolic Behaviour Scales-Developmental Profile (CSBS-DP) Infant-Toddler Checklist and the Paediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). A mediation model was examined using bootstrapping. Early communication skills mediated the relationship between early motor abilities and later social functioning, b=0.24 (95% CI=0.08-0.43 and the mediation model was significant, F (2, 68)=32.77, p<0.001, R(2)=0.49. Early communication ability partially mediates the relationship between early motor ability and later social function in children with CP. This demonstrates the important role of early communication in ongoing social development. Early identification of communication delay and enriched language exposure is crucial in this population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Challenging the Expanding Environment Model of Teaching Elementary Social Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Jesse

1989-01-01

Looks at criticism of the Expanding Environments Model in the elementary school social studies curriculum. Cites recent reports that recommend a history-centered elementary curriculum. States that teaching methods may be the cause of historical, civic, and geographic illiteracy rather than the Expanding Environments Model. (LS)

Carry-over effects of the social environment on future divorce probability in a wild bird population

PubMed Central

Culina, Antica; Hinde, Camilla A.; Sheldon, Ben C.

2015-01-01

Initial mate choice and re-mating strategies (infidelity and divorce) influence individual fitness. Both of these should be influenced by the social environment, which determines the number and availability of potential partners. While most studies looking at this relationship take a population-level approach, individual-level responses to variation in the social environment remain largely unstudied. Here, we explore carry-over effects on future mating decisions of the social environment in which the initial mating decision occurred. Using detailed data on the winter social networks of great tits, we tested whether the probability of subsequent divorce, a year later, could be predicted by measures of the social environment at the time of pairing. We found that males that had a lower proportion of female associates, and whose partner ranked lower among these, as well as inexperienced breeders, were more likely to divorce after breeding. We found no evidence that a female's social environment influenced the probability of divorce. Our findings highlight the importance of the social environment that individuals experience during initial pair formation on later pairing outcomes, and demonstrate that such effects can be delayed. Exploring these extended effects of the social environment can yield valuable insights into processes and selective pressures acting upon the mating strategies that individuals adopt. PMID:26468239

Positive Verbal Environments: Setting the Stage for Young Children's Social Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meece, Darrell; Soderman, Anne K.

2010-01-01

As social creatures, humans relate to one another in environments that are created through interactions with one another. Because these environments are created through one's communication and interaction, they may be called verbal environments. With a renewed interest among educators in children's self-perceptions and the development of social…

Functioning of Social Skills from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence in Hungary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zsolnai, Anikó; Kasik, László

2014-01-01

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to describe the social skills that crucially affect children's social behaviour in the school. Our objective was to gather information about the functioning of social skills from middle childhood to early adolescence. The sample consisted of 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old Hungarian students (N = 1398). Based on…

Early Childhood Education and Care Content for the Social Work Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenberg, Joy Pastan; Herman-Smith, Robert; Allen, Susan F.; Fram, Maryah Stella

2013-01-01

Social workers are poised to play an important role in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings; however, they need the knowledge and skills necessary to make a meaningful contribution. This article presents learning activities that infuse ECEC content, centered on the following four areas for social work education: (1) history of the…

Social Tagging in a Scholarly Digital Library Environment: Users' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noorhidawati, A.; Hanum, N. Fariza; Zohoorian-Fooladi, N.

2013-01-01

Introduction: This paper reports an exploratory study examining how users participate in social tagging activities in a scholarly digital library environment to learn about their motivations, behaviour, and practices. Method: This study was conducted in two phases: a survey to investigate usage and attitudes of social tagging tool, and a…

Early Social Enrichment Improves Social Motivation and Skills in a Monogenic Mouse Model of Autism, the Oprm1 (-/-) Mouse.

PubMed

Garbugino, Luciana; Centofante, Eleonora; D'Amato, Francesca R

2016-01-01

Environmental enrichment has been proven to have positive effects on both behavioral and physiological phenotypes in rodent models of mental and neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, we used mice lacking the µ-opioid receptor gene (Oprm1 (-/-)), which has been shown to have deficits in social competence and communication, to assess the hypothesis that early enrichment can ameliorate sociability during development and adulthood. Due to the immaturity of sensory-motor capabilities of young pups, we chose as environmental stimulation a second lactating female, who provided extra maternal care and stimulation from birth. The results show that double mothering normalized the abnormal response to maternal separation in Oprm1 (-/-) pups and increased social motivation in juveniles and adult knockout mice. Additionally, we observed that Oprm1 (-/-) mice act as less attractive social partners than wild types, which suggests that social motivation can be modulated by the stimulus employed. This experiment supports previous findings suggesting that early social environmental stimulation has profound and long-term beneficial effects, encouraging the use of nonpharmacological interventions for the treatment of social defects in neurodevelopmental diseases.

Perceived social isolation moderates the relationship between early childhood trauma and pulse pressure in older adults.

PubMed

Norman, Greg J; Hawkley, Louise; Ball, Aaron; Berntson, Gary G; Cacioppo, John T

2013-06-01

Over a million children are subjected to some form of trauma in the United States every year. Early trauma has been shown to have deleterious effects on cardiovascular health in adulthood. However, the presence of strong social relationships as an adult can buffer an individual against many of the harmful effects of early trauma. Furthermore, the perception of social isolation has been shown to be a significant risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease and is a strong predictor of all cause mortality. One likely mechanism thought to underlie the influence of perceived isolation on health is changes in arterial stiffness. One of the more widely used measures of arterial stiffness in older individuals is pulse pressure. The goal of the present study was to determine whether early childhood trauma is associated with elevations on pulse pressure. Furthermore, this study sought to determine whether perceived social isolation moderates the relationship between early trauma and pulse pressure. Results revealed that individuals with low perceived social isolation displayed no significant relationship between early trauma and pulse pressure. However, individuals who reported higher levels of perceived isolation showed a significant positive association between early trauma and pulse pressure. Therefore, the detrimental effects of early trauma may be partially dependent upon the quality of social relationships as an adult. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Awareness of Cognitive and Social Behaviour in a CSCL Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirschner, P. A.; Kreijns, K.; Phielix, C.; Fransen, J.

2015-01-01

Most distributed and virtual online environments for and pedagogies of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) neglect the social and social-emotional aspects underlying the group dynamics of learning and working in a CSCL group. These group dynamics often determine whether the group will develop into a well-performing team and whether a…

Student Teacher Views of Text in Early Learning Environments: Images from Sweden and New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mellgren, Elisabeth; Margrain, Valerie

2015-01-01

A total of 659 photographs of text in early childhood environments were gathered by student teachers in New Zealand and Sweden, replicating an earlier Swedish study [Gustafsson, K., & Mellgren, E. (2002)." Using text in pre-school: A Learning Environment." "Early Child Development and Care", 172(6), 603-624]. The findings…

Early environments and the ecology of inflammation

PubMed Central

McDade, Thomas W.

2012-01-01

Recent research has implicated inflammatory processes in the pathophysiology of a wide range of chronic degenerative diseases, although inflammation has long been recognized as a critical line of defense against infectious disease. However, current scientific understandings of the links between chronic low-grade inflammation and diseases of aging are based primarily on research in high-income nations with low levels of infectious disease and high levels of overweight/obesity. From a comparative and historical point of view, this epidemiological situation is relatively unique, and it may not capture the full range of ecological variation necessary to understand the processes that shape the development of inflammatory phenotypes. The human immune system is characterized by substantial developmental plasticity, and a comparative, developmental, ecological framework is proposed to cast light on the complex associations among early environments, regulation of inflammation, and disease. Recent studies in the Philippines and lowland Ecuador reveal low levels of chronic inflammation, despite higher burdens of infectious disease, and point to nutritional and microbial exposures in infancy as important determinants of inflammation in adulthood. By shaping the regulation of inflammation, early environments moderate responses to inflammatory stimuli later in life, with implications for the association between inflammation and chronic diseases. Attention to the eco-logics of inflammation may point to promising directions for future research, enriching our understanding of this important physiological system and informing approaches to the prevention and treatment of disease. PMID:23045646

Histone deacetylase 5 modulates the effects of social adversity in early life on cocaine-induced behavior.

PubMed

Valzania, Alessandro; Catale, Clarissa; Viscomi, Maria Teresa; Puglisi-Allegra, Stefano; Carola, Valeria

2017-03-15

Psychostimulants induce stable changes in neural plasticity and behavior in a transcription-dependent manner. Further, stable cellular changes require transcription that is regulated by epigenetic mechanisms that alter chromatin structure, such as histone acetylation. This mechanism is typically catalyzed by enzymes with histone acetyltransferase or histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. Class IIa HDACs are notable for their high expression in important regions of the brain reward circuitry and their neural activity-dependent shuttling in and out of the cell nucleus. In particular, HDAC5 has an important modulatory function in cocaine-induced behaviors and social defeat stress-induced effects. Although a mutation in HDAC5 has been shown to cause hypersensitive responses to chronic cocaine use whether this response worsens during chronic early life stress has not been examined yet. In this study, we exposed mouse pups to two different early life stress paradigms (social isolation, ESI, and social threat, EST) to determine whether the heterozygous null mutation in HDAC5 (HDAC5+/-) moderated the effects of exposure to stress in early life on adult cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP). Notably, HDAC5+/- mice that had been exposed to ESI were more susceptible to developing cocaine-induced CPP and more resistant to extinguishing this behavior. The same effect was not observed for HDAC5+/- mice experiencing EST, suggesting that only ESI induces behavioral changes by acting precisely through HDAC5-related biological pathways. Finally, an analysis of c-Fos expression performed to discover the neurobiological substrates that mediated this phenotype, identified the dorsolateral striatum as an important structure that mediates the interaction between HDAC5 mutation and ESI. Our data demonstrate that decreased HDAC5 function is able to exacerbate the long-term behavioral effects of adverse rearing environment in mouse. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights

Virtual Environments Using Video Capture for Social Phobia with Psychosis

PubMed Central

White, Richard; Clarke, Timothy; Turner, Ruth; Fowler, David

2013-01-01

Abstract A novel virtual environment (VE) system was developed and used as an adjunct to cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) with six socially anxious patients recovering from psychosis. The novel aspect of the VE system is that it uses video capture so the patients can see a life-size projection of themselves interacting with a specially scripted and digitally edited filmed environment played in real time on a screen in front of them. Within-session process outcomes (subjective units of distress and belief ratings on individual behavioral experiments), as well as patient feedback, generated the hypothesis that this type of virtual environment can potentially add value to CBT by helping patients understand the role of avoidance and safety behaviors in the maintenance of social anxiety and paranoia and by boosting their confidence to carry out “real-life” behavioral experiments. PMID:23659722

Pronounced within-individual plasticity in sperm morphometry across social environments.

PubMed

Immler, Simone; Pryke, Sarah R; Birkhead, Tim R; Griffith, Simon C

2010-06-01

Sperm morphometry (i.e., size and shape) and function are important determinants of male reproductive success and are thought to be under stabilizing selection. However, recent studies suggest that sperm morphometry can be a phenotypically plastic trait, which can be adjusted to varying conditions. We tested whether different behavioral strategies in aggression between aggressive red and nonaggressive black males of the color polymorphic Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae) can influence sperm morphometry. We show pronounced within-individual phenotypic plasticity in sperm morphometry of male Gouldian finches in three different social environments. Both red and black males placed in intermediate to high competitive environments (high frequency of red males) increased the relative length of their sperm midpiece. By contrast, red males placed in low to intermediate competitive environments (higher frequency of black males) increased the length of the sperm flagellum. Significant changes in stress and sex steroid hormone levels (in response to the competitive environment) appear to influence sperm traits in red but not in black males, suggesting that changes in hormonal levels are not solely responsible for the observed changes in sperm morphometry. These findings imply that males can adjust sperm morphometry across social environments.

The Social Environment and Illness Uncertainty in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

PubMed Central

Hoth, Karin F.; Wamboldt, Frederick S.; Ford, Dee W.; Sandhaus, Robert A.; Strange, Charlie; Bekelman, David B.; Holm, Kristen E.

2014-01-01

Purpose Illness uncertainty is associated with worse outcomes in patients with chronic health conditions. Research on social factors associated with uncertainty has focused on the beneficial role of social support. The goal of this study was to develop a more nuanced understanding of the social factors that are associated with uncertainty. Methods 462 individuals with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) associated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) completed a mailed questionnaire. Measures of the social environment included general family functioning, perceived criticism from family members, whether the participant had family members with AATD or COPD, and participation in support groups. Uncertainty was measured using the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale including subscales for ambiguity (uncertainty about physical cues and symptoms) and complexity (uncertainty about treatment and the medical system). Hierarchical regression was used to identify social correlates of ambiguity and complexity while adjusting for demographic and medical characteristics and psychological distress. Results Perceived criticism was associated with more complexity (b=0.21, SE=0.09, p=0.015) and ambiguity (b=0.40, SE=0.12, p=0.001). Having a family member with AATD or COPD was associated with more ambiguity (b=3.28, SE=1.00, p=0.001). Participation in support groups was associated with less ambiguity. Individuals who attended three or more support groups in the prior year reported less ambiguity than individuals who had not attended any (b=−3.31, SE=1.29, p=0.010). Conclusions The social environment is complex and encompasses more than social support. Multiple aspects of the social environment are associated with uncertainty, including perceived criticism, having a family member with a similar illness, and participation in support groups. PMID:25008041

Social and behavioral skills and the gender gap in early educational achievement.

PubMed

Diprete, Thomas A; Jennings, Jennifer L

2012-01-01

Though many studies have suggested that social and behavioral skills play a central role in gender stratification processes, we know little about the extent to which these skills affect gender gaps in academic achievement. Analyzing data from the Early Child Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, we demonstrate that social and behavioral skills have substantively important effects on academic outcomes from kindergarten through fifth grade. Gender differences in the acquisition of these skills, moreover, explain a considerable fraction of the gender gap in academic outcomes during early elementary school. Boys get roughly the same academic return to social and behavioral skills as their female peers, but girls begin school with more advanced social and behavioral skills and their skill advantage grows over time. While part of the effect may reflect an evaluation process that rewards students who better conform to school norms, our results imply that the acquisition of social and behavioral skills enhances learning as well. Our results call for a reconsideration of the family and school-level processes that produce gender gaps in social and behavioral skills and the advantages they confer for academic and later success. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Literacy Environment of Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms: Predictors of Print Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dynia, Jaclyn M.

2012-01-01

The present study aimed to examine the quality of the classroom literacy environment in early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms, as well as the relations between the classroom literacy environment and children's gains in print knowledge. To address these aims, the present study described the classroom literacy environments of 28…

Self-esteem in Early Adolescence as Predictor of Depressive Symptoms in Late Adolescence and Early Adulthood: The Mediating Role of Motivational and Social Factors.

PubMed

Masselink, M; Van Roekel, E; Oldehinkel, A J

2018-05-01

Ample research has shown that low self-esteem increases the risk to develop depressive symptoms during adolescence. However, the mechanism underlying this association remains largely unknown, as well as how long adolescents with low self-esteem remain vulnerable to developing depressive symptoms. Insight into this mechanism may not only result in a better theoretical understanding but also provide directions for possible interventions. To address these gaps in knowledge, we investigated whether self-esteem in early adolescence predicted depressive symptoms in late adolescence and early adulthood. Moreover, we investigated a cascading mediational model, in which we focused on factors that are inherently related to self-esteem and the adolescent developmental period: approach and avoidance motivation and the social factors social contact, social problems, and social support. We used data from four waves of the TRAILS study (N = 2228, 51% girls): early adolescence (mean age 11 years), middle adolescence (mean age 14 years), late adolescence (mean age 16 years), and early adulthood (mean age 22 years). Path-analyses showed that low self-esteem is an enduring vulnerability for developing depressive symptoms. Self-esteem in early adolescence predicted depressive symptoms in late adolescence as well as early adulthood. This association was independently mediated by avoidance motivation and social problems, but not by approach motivation. The effect sizes were relatively small, indicating that having low self-esteem is a vulnerability factor, but does not necessarily predispose adolescents to developing depressive symptoms on their way to adulthood. Our study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the association between self-esteem and depressive symptoms, and has identified avoidance motivation and social problems as possible targets for intervention.

Early Childhood Preservice Teachers' Knowledge and Application of Social Emotional Assessment and Intervention Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribble, Lois Marie

2013-01-01

Social emotional competence is an essential developmental skill recognized as the most critical for school and later success. Rising rates in behavioral referrals and preschool expulsion have brought increased attention to the importance of helping children develop social-emotional skills in the early years. In early childhood education a central…

Nuancing the role of social skills- a longitudinal study of early maternal psychological distress and adolescent depressive symptoms.

PubMed

Nilsen, Wendy; Karevold, Evalill Bølstad; Kaasbøll, Jannike; Kjeldsen, Anne

2018-04-10

Social skills might play an important role for the relationship between maternal psychological distress and subsequent development of depressive symptoms. The majority perspective is that social skills is adaptive and protective, but there is a need to also highlight the potential maladaptive effect of social skills in some settings or for some sub groups. The current study examined the longitudinal interplay between maternal-reported psychological distress in early childhood (age 1.5), and offspring reports on social skills and depressive symptoms in early (age 12.5) and middle adolescence (age 14.5). We used data from the Tracking Opportunities and Problems Study (TOPP), a community-based longitudinal study following Norwegian families to examine direct links and interactions between early maternal distress (measured with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist) and early adolescent offspring social skills (measured with the Social Skills Rating System) and middle adolescent depressive symptoms (measured with the Moods and Feelings Questionnaire) in 370 families (in total 740 mothers and adolescents). Exposure to childhood maternal distress predicted offspring depressive symptoms in middle adolescence. Higher social skills in early adolescence predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms for girls, but not for boys, in middle adolescence. An interaction effect was found in which adolescents exposed to early maternal distress who reported high social skills in early adolescence had the highest level of depressive symptoms in middle adolescence. The findings highlight the nuances in the role of social skills for adolescent depressive symptoms - having the potential to be both adaptive as well as maladaptive for some subgroups (those experiencing maternal psychological distress). This has important implications for social skill programs.

Early emerging system for reasoning about the social nature of food.

PubMed

Liberman, Zoe; Woodward, Amanda L; Sullivan, Kathleen R; Kinzler, Katherine D

2016-08-23

Selecting appropriate foods is a complex and evolutionarily ancient problem, yet past studies have revealed little evidence of adaptations present in infancy that support sophisticated reasoning about perceptual properties of food. We propose that humans have an early-emerging system for reasoning about the social nature of food selection. Specifically, infants' reasoning about food choice is tied to their thinking about agents' intentions and social relationships. Whereas infants do not expect people to like the same objects, infants view food preferences as meaningfully shared across individuals. Infants' reasoning about food preferences is fundamentally social: They generalize food preferences across individuals who affiliate, or who speak a common language, but not across individuals who socially disengage or who speak different languages. Importantly, infants' reasoning about food preferences is flexibly calibrated to their own experiences: Tests of bilingual babies reveal that an infant's sociolinguistic background influences whether she will constrain her generalization of food preferences to people who speak the same language. Additionally, infants' systems for reasoning about food is differentially responsive to positive and negative information. Infants generalize information about food disgust across all people, regardless of those people's social identities. Thus, whereas food preferences are seen as embedded within social groups, disgust is interpreted as socially universal, which could help infants avoid potentially dangerous foods. These studies reveal an early-emerging system for thinking about food that incorporates social reasoning about agents and their relationships, and allows infants to make abstract, flexible, adaptive inferences to interpret others' food choices.

Early emerging system for reasoning about the social nature of food

PubMed Central

Liberman, Zoe; Woodward, Amanda L.; Sullivan, Kathleen R.; Kinzler, Katherine D.

2016-01-01

Selecting appropriate foods is a complex and evolutionarily ancient problem, yet past studies have revealed little evidence of adaptations present in infancy that support sophisticated reasoning about perceptual properties of food. We propose that humans have an early-emerging system for reasoning about the social nature of food selection. Specifically, infants’ reasoning about food choice is tied to their thinking about agents’ intentions and social relationships. Whereas infants do not expect people to like the same objects, infants view food preferences as meaningfully shared across individuals. Infants’ reasoning about food preferences is fundamentally social: They generalize food preferences across individuals who affiliate, or who speak a common language, but not across individuals who socially disengage or who speak different languages. Importantly, infants’ reasoning about food preferences is flexibly calibrated to their own experiences: Tests of bilingual babies reveal that an infant’s sociolinguistic background influences whether she will constrain her generalization of food preferences to people who speak the same language. Additionally, infants’ systems for reasoning about food is differentially responsive to positive and negative information. Infants generalize information about food disgust across all people, regardless of those people’s social identities. Thus, whereas food preferences are seen as embedded within social groups, disgust is interpreted as socially universal, which could help infants avoid potentially dangerous foods. These studies reveal an early-emerging system for thinking about food that incorporates social reasoning about agents and their relationships, and allows infants to make abstract, flexible, adaptive inferences to interpret others’ food choices. PMID:27503878

Neural responses to reward in childhood: relations to early behavioral inhibition and social anxiety

PubMed Central

Lahat, Ayelet; Benson, Brenda E; Pine, Daniel S; Fox, Nathan A; Ernst, Monique

2018-01-01

Abstract Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an early temperamental profile characterized by negative reactivity to novelty, withdrawal from social situations, and increased risk for social anxiety. Previous research associated BI assessed in early childhood to striatal hypersensitivity in mid-to-late adolescence. The present study examined this association among 10 year-olds, characterized with BI at ages 24 and 36 months on measures of temperamental reactivity. Participants (n = 40) were studied at age 10 using a reward processing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Child- and maternal-report of social anxiety symptoms was collected at ages 10 and 13. Findings indicate greater caudate activation and stronger striatal connectivity in high, compared to low, behaviorally inhibited children. Caudate activation related to social anxiety symptoms at both ages. These findings suggest that enhanced striatal responsivity reliably manifests among high behaviorally inhibited children as early as age 10. This may reflect hyper-sensitivity to reward or excessive motivation to avoid errors. PMID:27531387

Family Environment and Social Development in Gifted Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olszewski-Kubilius, Paula; Lee, Seon-Young; Thomson, Dana

2014-01-01

Involving more than 1,500 academically gifted students and their parents, this study examined relationships between family environment and social competence of gifted students. Results from an online survey revealed that our gifted students rated their families as cohesive and flexible with high levels of satisfaction and communication among…

Longitudinal Trajectories of Social Reticence with Unfamiliar Peers across Early Childhood

PubMed Central

Degnan, Kathryn A.; Almas, Alisa N.; Henderson, Heather A.; Hane, Amie Ashley; Walker, Olga L.; Fox, Nathan A.

2014-01-01

Behavioral inhibition is a temperament assessed in the toddler period via children’s responses to novel contexts, objects, and unfamiliar adults. Social reticence is observed as onlooking, unoccupied behavior in the presence of unfamiliar peers and is linked to earlier behavioral inhibition. In the current study, we assessed behavioral inhibition in a sample of 262 children at ages two and three, and then assessed social reticence in these same children as they interacted with an unfamiliar, same age, and same sex peer, at 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of age. As expected, early behavioral inhibition was related to social reticence at each age. However, multiple trajectories of social reticence were observed including High-Stable, High-Decreasing, and Low-Increasing, with the High-Stable and High-Decreasing trajectories associated with greater behavioral inhibition compared to the Low-Increasing trajectory. In addition, children in the High-Stable social reticence trajectory were rated higher than all others on 60-month Internalizing problems. Children in the Low-Increasing trajectory were rated higher on 60-month Externalizing problems than children in the High-Decreasing trajectory. These results illustrate the multiple developmental pathways for behaviorally inhibited toddlers and suggest patterns across early childhood associated with heightened risk for psychopathology. PMID:25181648

Inpatients' and outpatients' satisfaction: the mediating role of perceived quality of physical and social environment.

PubMed

Campos Andrade, Cláudia; Lima, Maria Luísa; Pereira, Cícero Roberto; Fornara, Ferdinando; Bonaiuto, Marino

2013-05-01

This study analyses the processes through which the physical environment of health care settings impacts on patients' well-being. Specifically, we investigate the mediating role of perceptions of the physical and social environments, and if this process is moderated by patients' status, that is, if the objective physical environment impacts inpatients' and outpatients' satisfaction by different social-psychological processes. Patients (N=206) evaluated the physical and social environments of the care unit where they were receiving treatment, and its objective physical conditions were independently evaluated by two architects. Results showed that the objective environmental quality affects satisfaction through perceptions of environmental quality, and that patients' status moderates this relationship. For inpatients, it is the perception of quality of the social environment that mediates the relationship between objective environmental quality and satisfaction, whereas for outpatients it is the perception of quality of the physical environment. This moderated mediation is discussed in terms of differences on patients' experiences of health care environments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Course of Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder From Early Childhood to Early Adolescence.

PubMed

Guyon-Harris, Katherine L; Humphreys, Kathryn L; Fox, Nathan A; Nelson, Charles A; Zeanah, Charles H

2018-05-01

Disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED) is poorly understood beyond early childhood. The course of DSED signs in a sample of children who experienced severe, early deprivation from early childhood to early adolescence was examined using variable-centered (linear mixed modeling) and person-centered (growth mixture modeling) approaches. The study included 124 children with a history of institutional care from a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care and 69 community comparison children matched by age and sex. DSED signs were assessed at baseline (mean age 22 months), 30, 42, and 54 months of age, and 8 and 12 years of age using a validated caregiver report of disturbed attachment behavior. Variable-centered analyses based on intent-to-treat groups indicated that signs of DSED decreased sharply for children randomized to foster care and decreased slightly but remained high for children randomized to care as usual. Person-centered analyses showed 4 profiles (i.e., elevated, persistent modest, early decreasing, and minimal). Elevated and persistent modest courses were associated with greater placement disruptions (F 3,99  = 4.29, p = .007, partial eta-squared [η 2 ] = 0.12), older age at placement into foster care (F 3,56  = 3.41, p < .05, partial η 2  = 0.16), and more time in institutional care (F 3,115  = 11.91, p < .001, partial η 2  = 0.24) compared with decreasing and minimal courses. Early and sustained placement into families after deprivation is associated with minimal or decreasing signs of DSED across development. Shortening the amount of time children spend in institutions and preserving placements could help decrease signs of DSED into early adolescence in previously institutionalized children. Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social anxiety in virtual environments: results of a pilot study.

PubMed

James, Laura K; Lin, Chien-Yu; Steed, Anthony; Swapp, David; Slater, Mel

2003-06-01

This paper reports on a pilot study of the extent to which social anxiety can be generated within a virtual environment. Ten subjects were exposed to a virtual reality experience depicting a London underground train and also a wine bar. The first provided a social setting with virtual characters (avatars) that had relatively neutral behaviors towards the subject, and the second was more socially demanding--with subjects required to interact with relatively disinterested avatars. The purpose was to assess whether social anxiety would be greater for the wine bar experience than the train journey experience, taking into account prior tendencies to social anxiety, and the order of presentation. The results suggest that social anxiety was higher for the wine bar experience, but lower for the second exposure.

Theorizing an Early Childhood Educator's Authority for the Advancement of Social Goods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langford, Rachel

2010-01-01

Authority is an uncomfortable subject for early childhood educators. This article outlines some tensions between the theory and practice of an early childhood educator's authority and the implications of these tensions for educators themselves and the social changes they envisage. Drawing on a range of feminist educational philosophers and…

Early Educational Intervention, Early Cumulative Risk, and the Early Home Environment as Predictors of Young Adult Outcomes Within a High-Risk Sample

PubMed Central

Pungello, Elizabeth P.; Kainz, Kirsten; Burchinal, Margaret; Wasik, Barbara H.; Sparling, Joseph J.; Ramey, Craig T.; Campbell, Frances A.

2009-01-01

The extent to which early educational intervention, early cumulative risk, and the early home environment were associated with young adult outcomes was investigated in a sample of 139 young adults (age 21) from high-risk families enrolled in randomized trials of early intervention. Positive effects of treatment were found for education attainment, attending college, and skilled employment; negative effects of risk were found for education attainment, graduating high school, being employed and avoiding teen parenthood. The home mediated the effects of risk for graduating high school, but not being employed or teen parenthood. Evidence for moderated mediation was found for educational attainment; the home mediated the association between risk and educational attainment for the control group, but not the treated group. PMID:20331676

[Learning about social determinants of health through chronicles, using a virtual learning environment].

PubMed

Restrepo-Palacio, Sonia; Amaya-Guio, Jairo

2016-01-01

To describe the contributions of a pedagogical strategy based on the construction of chronicles, using a Virtual Learning Environment for training medical students from Universidad de La Sabana on social determinants of health. Descriptive study with a qualitative approach. Design and implementation of a Virtual Learning Environment based on the ADDIE instructional model. A Virtual Learning Environment was implemented with an instructional design based on the five phases of the ADDIE model, on the grounds of meaningful learning and social constructivism, and through the narration of chronicles or life stories as a pedagogical strategy. During the course, the structural determinants and intermediaries were addressed, and nine chronicles were produced by working groups made up of four or five students, who demonstrated meaningful learning from real life stories, presented a coherent sequence, and kept a thread; 82% of these students incorporated in their contents most of the social determinants of health, emphasizing on the concepts of equity or inequity, equality or inequality, justice or injustice and social cohesion. A Virtual Learning Environment, based on an appropriate instructional design, allows to facilitate learning of social determinants of health through a constructivist pedagogical approach by analyzing chronicles or life stories created by ninth-semester students of medicine from Universidad de La Sabana.

Mapping the Early Language Environment Using All-Day Recordings and Automated Analysis.

PubMed

Gilkerson, Jill; Richards, Jeffrey A; Warren, Steven F; Montgomery, Judith K; Greenwood, Charles R; Kimbrough Oller, D; Hansen, John H L; Paul, Terrance D

2017-05-17

This research provided a first-generation standardization of automated language environment estimates, validated these estimates against standard language assessments, and extended on previous research reporting language behavior differences across socioeconomic groups. Typically developing children between 2 to 48 months of age completed monthly, daylong recordings in their natural language environments over a span of approximately 6-38 months. The resulting data set contained 3,213 12-hr recordings automatically analyzed by using the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System to generate estimates of (a) the number of adult words in the child's environment, (b) the amount of caregiver-child interaction, and (c) the frequency of child vocal output. Child vocalization frequency and turn-taking increased with age, whereas adult word counts were age independent after early infancy. Child vocalization and conversational turn estimates predicted 7%-16% of the variance observed in child language assessment scores. Lower socioeconomic status (SES) children produced fewer vocalizations, engaged in fewer adult-child interactions, and were exposed to fewer daily adult words compared with their higher socioeconomic status peers, but within-group variability was high. The results offer new insight into the landscape of the early language environment, with clinical implications for identification of children at-risk for impoverished language environments.

Mother-Infant and Extra-Dyadic Interactions with a New Social Partner: Developmental Trajectories of Early Social Abilities during Play.

PubMed

Fadda, Roberta; Lucarelli, Loredana

2017-01-01

Mother-infant interactions during feeding and play are pivotal experiences in the development of infants' early social abilities (Stern, 1985, 1995; Biringen, 2000). Stern indicated distinctive characteristics of mother-infant interactions, respectively, during feeding and play, suggesting to evaluate both to better describe the complexity of such early affective and social experiences (Stern, 1996). Moreover, during the first years of life, infants acquire cognitive and social skills that allow them to interact with new social partners in extra-dyadic interactions. However, the relations between mother-child interactions and infants' social skills in extra-dyadic interactions are still unknown. We investigated longitudinally the relations between mother-child interactions during feeding and play and child's pre-verbal communicative abilities in extra-dyadic interactions during play. 20 dyads were evaluated at T 1 (infants aged between 9-22 months) and 6 months later, at T 2 . The interdyadic differences in mother-infant interactions during feeding and play were evaluated, respectively, with the "Feeding Scale" (Chatoor et al., 1997) and with the "Play Scale" (Chatoor, 2006) and the socio-communicative abilities of children with a new social partner during play were evaluated with the "Early Social Communication Scales" (Mundy et al., 2003). We distinguished the dyads into two categories: dyads with functional interactions (high dyadic reciprocity, low dyadic conflict) and dyads with dysfunctional interactions (lower dyadic reciprocity, higher dyadic conflict). At T 1 , infants belonging to dyads with dysfunctional interactions were significantly lower in "Initiating Joint Attention" and in "Responding to Joint Attention" in interaction with a new social partner compared to the infants belonging to dyads with functional interactions. At T 2 , infants belonging to dyads with dysfunctional interactions were significantly lower in "Initiating Social Interactions" with

Verbal abuse from nurse colleagues and work environment of early career registered nurses.

PubMed

Budin, Wendy C; Brewer, Carol S; Chao, Ying-Yu; Kovner, Christine

2013-09-01

This study examined relationships between verbal abuse from nurse colleagues and demographic characteristics, work attributes, and work attitudes of early career registered nurses (RNs). Data are from the fourth wave of a national panel survey of early career RNs begun in 2006. The final analytic sample included 1,407 RNs. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample, analysis of variance to compare means, and chi square to compare categorical variables. RNs reporting higher levels of verbal abuse from nurse colleagues were more likely to be unmarried, work in a hospital setting, or work in a non-magnet hospital. They also had lower job satisfaction, and less organizational commitment, autonomy, and intent to stay. Lastly, they perceived their work environments unfavorably. Data support the hypothesis that early career RNs are vulnerable to the effects of verbal abuse from nurse colleagues. Although more verbal abuse is seen in environments with unfavorable working conditions, and RNs working in such environments tend to have less favorable work attitudes, one cannot assume causality. It is unclear if poor working conditions create an environment where verbal abuse is tolerated or if verbal abuse creates an unfavorable work environment. There is a need to develop and test evidence-based interventions to deal with the problems inherent with verbal abuse from nurse colleagues. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Relations between the school physical environment and school social capital with student physical activity levels.

PubMed

Button, Brenton; Trites, Stephen; Janssen, Ian

2013-12-17

The physical and social environments at schools are related to students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactive effects of the school physical environment and school social capital on the MVPA of students while at school. Data from 18,875 grade 6-10 students from 331 schools who participated in the 2009/10 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey were analyzed using multi-level regression. Students answered questions on the amount of time they spend in MVPA at school and on their school's social capital. Administrator reports were used to create a physical activity related physical environment score. The school physical environment score was positively associated with student MVPA at school (β = 0.040, p < .005). The association between the school social capital and MVPA was also positive (β = 0.074, p < .001). The difference in physical environments equated to about 20 minutes/week of MVPA for students attending schools with the lowest number of physical environment features and about 40 minutes/week for students attending schools with the lowest school social capital scores by comparison to students attending schools with the highest scores. The findings suggest that school social capital may be a more important factor in increasing students MVPA than the school physical environment. The results of this study may help inform interventions aimed at increasing student physical activity levels.

Quality of the Literacy Environment in Inclusive Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Ying; Sawyer, Brook E.; Justice, Laura M.; Kaderavek, Joan N.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of the literacy environment in inclusive early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms ("N" = 54). The first aim was to describe the quality of the literacy environment in terms of structure (i.e., book materials and print/writing materials) and instruction (i.e., instructional…

Designing a Social Environment for Human-Robot Cooperation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amram, Fred M.

Noting that work is partly a social activity, and that workers' psychological and emotional needs influence their productivity, this paper explores avenues for improving human-robot cooperation and for enhancing worker satisfaction in the environment of flexible automation. The first section of the paper offers a brief overview of the…

Everyone Is Doing It! Managing Social Media in the Early Childhood Ecosystem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simon, Fran

2011-01-01

Everyone's doing it: Tweeting, "friending," blogging, linking, texting, and otherwise zipping around all over the social media landscape. Social media has become more than just a pastime. It is officially now another important communication medium early childhood educators use to establish and enhance meaningful relationships with parents,…

Adequacy of the Regular Early Education Classroom Environment for Students with Visual Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Cherylee M.; Packer, Tanya L.; Passmore, Anne

2013-01-01

This study describes the classroom environment that students with visual impairment typically experience in regular Australian early education. Adequacy of the classroom environment (teacher training and experience, teacher support, parent involvement, adult involvement, inclusive attitude, individualization of the curriculum, physical…

Social and Physical Environments and Disparities in Risk for Cardiovascular Disease: The Healthy Environments Partnership Conceptual Model

PubMed Central

Schulz, Amy J.; Kannan, Srimathi; Dvonch, J. Timothy; Israel, Barbara A.; Allen, Alex; James, Sherman A.; House, James S.; Lepkowski, James

2005-01-01

The Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP) is a community-based participatory research effort investigating variations in cardiovascular disease risk, and the contributions of social and physical environments to those variations, among non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic residents in three areas of Detroit, Michigan. Initiated in October 2000 as a part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Health Disparities Initiative, HEP is affiliated with the Detroit Community–Academic Urban Research Center. The study is guided by a conceptual model that considers race-based residential segregation and associated concentrations of poverty and wealth to be fundamental factors influencing multiple, more proximate predictors of cardiovascular risk. Within this model, physical and social environments are identified as intermediate factors that mediate relationships between fundamental factors and more proximate factors such as physical activity and dietary practices that ultimately influence anthropomorphic and physiologic indicators of cardiovascular risk. The study design and data collection methods were jointly developed and implemented by a research team based in community-based organizations, health service organizations, and academic institutions. These efforts include collecting and analyzing airborne particulate matter over a 3-year period; census and administrative data; neighborhood observation checklist data to assess aspects of the physical and social environment; household survey data including information on perceived stressors, access to social support, and health-related behaviors; and anthropometric, biomarker, and self-report data as indicators of cardiovascular health. Through these collaborative efforts, HEP seeks to contribute to an understanding of factors that contribute to racial and socioeconomic health inequities, and develop a foundation for efforts to eliminate these disparities in Detroit. PMID:16330371

Brief Report: Evaluation of an Intelligent Learning Environment for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zheng, Zhi; Warren, Zachary; Weitlauf, Amy; Fu, Qiang; Zhao, Huan; Swanson, Amy; Sarkar, Nilanjan

2016-01-01

Researchers are increasingly attempting to develop and apply innovative technological platforms for early detection and intervention of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This pilot study designed and evaluated a novel technologically-mediated intelligent learning environment with relevance to early social orienting skills. The environment was…

The anatomy of the safe and social suburb: an exploratory study of the built environment, social capital and residents' perceptions of safety.

PubMed

Wood, Lisa; Shannon, Tya; Bulsara, Max; Pikora, Terri; McCormack, Gavin; Giles-Corti, Billie

2008-03-01

This study explored the relationship between social capital and aspects of the built environment, focusing in particular on the walkability of suburbs as determined by street network design and the mix of land uses. We measured social capital and feelings of personal safety in 335 residents of three suburbs in metropolitan Perth, WA, and collected objective and perceived data on the built environment. After adjustment for demographic factors, the built environment was found to have a significant but small effect on social capital and feelings of safety, particularly in relation to the number and perceived adequacy of destinations. A high level of neighbourhood upkeep was associated with both higher social capital and feelings of safety.

Social recovery therapy in combination with early intervention services for enhancement of social recovery in patients with first-episode psychosis (SUPEREDEN3): a single-blind, randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Fowler, David; Hodgekins, Jo; French, Paul; Marshall, Max; Freemantle, Nick; McCrone, Paul; Everard, Linda; Lavis, Anna; Jones, Peter B; Amos, Tim; Singh, Swaran; Sharma, Vimal; Birchwood, Max

2018-01-01

Provision of early intervention services has increased the rate of social recovery in patients with first-episode psychosis; however, many individuals have continuing severe and persistent problems with social functioning. We aimed to assess the efficacy of early intervention services augmented with social recovery therapy in patients with first-episode psychosis. The primary hypothesis was that social recovery therapy plus early intervention services would lead to improvements in social recovery. We did this single-blind, phase 2, randomised controlled trial (SUPEREDEN3) at four specialist early intervention services in the UK. We included participants who were aged 16-35 years, had non-affective psychosis, had been clients of early intervention services for 12-30 months, and had persistent and severe social disability, defined as engagement in less than 30 h per week of structured activity. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1), via computer-generated randomisation with permuted blocks (sizes of four to six), to receive social recovery therapy plus early intervention services or early intervention services alone. Randomisation was stratified by sex and recruitment centre (Norfolk, Birmingham, Lancashire, and Sussex). By necessity, participants were not masked to group allocation, but allocation was concealed from outcome assessors. The primary outcome was time spent in structured activity at 9 months, as measured by the Time Use Survey. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN61621571. Between Oct 1, 2012, and June 20, 2014, we randomly assigned 155 participants to receive social recovery therapy plus early intervention services (n=76) or early intervention services alone (n=79); the intention-to-treat population comprised 154 patients. At 9 months, 143 (93%) participants had data for the primary outcome. Social recovery therapy plus early intervention services was associated with an increase in structured

Associations between physical activity and the neighbourhood social environment: baseline results from the HABITAT multilevel study.

PubMed

Rachele, Jerome N; Ghani, Fatima; Loh, Venurs H Y; Brown, Wendy J; Turrell, Gavin

2016-12-01

Limitations have arisen when measuring associations between the neighbourhood social environment and physical activity, including same-source bias, and the reliability of aggregated neighbourhood-level social environment measures. This study examines cross-sectional associations between the neighbourhood social environment (perceptions of incivilities, crime, and social cohesion) and self-reported physical activity, while accounting for same-source bias and reliability of neighbourhood-level exposure measures, using data from a large population-based clustered sample. This investigation included 11,035 residents aged 40-65years from 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, in 2007. Respondents self-reported their physical activity and perceptions of the social environment (neighbourhood incivilities, crime and safety, and social cohesion). Models were adjusted for individual-level education, occupation, and household income, and neighbourhood disadvantage. Exposure measures were generated via split clusters and an empirical Bayes estimation procedure. Data were analysed in 2016 using multilevel multinomial logistic regression. Residents of neighbourhoods with the highest incivilities and crime, and lowest social cohesion were reference categories. Individuals were more likely to be in the higher physical activity categories if they were in neighbourhoods with the lowest incivilities and the lowest crime. No associations were found between social cohesion and physical activity. This study provides a basis from which to gain a clearer understanding of the relationship between the neighbourhood social environment and individual physical activity. Further work is required to explore the pathways between perceptions of the neighbourhood social environment and physical activity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Organizational Socialization, Person-Environment Fit and Commitment of Recent College Graduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wachtfogel, Marc

2009-01-01

To determine whether person-environment fit and organizational commitment are impacted by socialization content, a survey was administered to 500 recent college graduates across the United States. The variables examined for the study were: socialization content (performance proficiency, people, politics, language, organization goals/values, and,…

Military Social Perspectives in an Online Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Gregory Irvin

2018-01-01

Article one of this dissertation utilizes a comprehensive literature review to depict the many cultural and social differences that are inherent to military personnel and how it may be translated into an online learning environment. In recent years, the military began the transition from an organizational and collaborative learning model to an…

The Antislavery Movement in Early America: Religion, Social Environment and Slave Manumissions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Budros, Art

2005-01-01

Although traditional explanations of the historic slave manumission movement during the early Republic have stressed religion, rival ones have emphasized broader environmental forces. However, the literature has offered non-systematic conceptualizations of religion and impressionistic empirical analyses of the facilitators of liberations. In…

Conceptual Foundations and Components of a Contextual Intervention to Promote Student Engagement during Early Adolescence: The Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success (SEALS) Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farmer, Thomas W.; Hamm, Jill V.; Lane, Kathleen L.; Lee, David; Sutherland, Kevin S.; Hall, Cristin M.; Murray, Robert A.

2013-01-01

Decades of research indicate that many early adolescents are at risk for developing significant school adjustment problems in the academic, behavioral, and social domains during the transition to middle school. The Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success (SEALS) model has been developed as a professional development and…

Merging Social Networking Environments and Formal Learning Environments to Support and Facilitate Interprofessional Instruction

PubMed Central

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-01-01

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context. PMID:20165519

Merging social networking environments and formal learning environments to support and facilitate interprofessional instruction.

PubMed

King, Sharla; Greidanus, Elaine; Carbonaro, Michael; Drummond, Jane; Patterson, Steven

2009-04-28

This study describes the redesign of an interprofessional team development course for health science students. A theoretical model is hypothesized as a framework for the redesign process, consisting of two themes: 1) the increasing trend among post-secondary students to participate in social networking (e.g., Facebook, Second Life) and 2) the need for healthcare educators to provide interprofessional training that results in effective communities of practice and better patient care. The redesign focused on increasing the relevance of the course through the integration of custom-designed technology to facilitate social networking during their interprofessional education. Results suggest that students in an educationally structured social networking environment can be guided to join learning communities quickly and access course materials. More research and implementation work is required to effectively develop interprofessional health sciences communities in a combined face-to-face and on-line social networking context.

Exploring the Role of Social Memory of Floods for Designing Flood Early Warning Operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girons Lopez, Marc; Di Baldassarre, Giuliano; Grabs, Thomas; Halldin, Sven; Seibert, Jan

2016-04-01

Early warning systems are an important tool for natural disaster mitigation practices, especially for flooding events. Warnings rely on near-future forecasts to provide time to take preventive actions before a flood occurs, thus reducing potential losses. However, on top of the technical capacities, successful warnings require an efficient coordination and communication among a range of different actors and stakeholders. The complexity of integrating the technical and social spheres of warning systems has, however, resulted in system designs neglecting a number of important aspects such as social awareness of floods thus leading to suboptimal results. A better understanding of the interactions and feedbacks among the different elements of early warning systems is therefore needed to improve their efficiency and therefore social resilience. When designing an early warning system two important decisions need to be made regarding (i) the hazard magnitude at and from which a warning should be issued and (ii) the degree of confidence required for issuing a warning. The first decision is usually taken based on the social vulnerability and climatic variability while the second one is related to the performance (i.e. accuracy) of the forecasting tools. Consequently, by estimating the vulnerability and the accuracy of the forecasts, these two variables can be optimized to minimize the costs and losses. Important parameters with a strong influence on the efficiency of warning systems such as social awareness are however not considered in their design. In this study we present a theoretical exploration of the impact of social awareness on the design of early warning systems. For this purpose we use a definition of social memory of flood events as a proxy for flood risk awareness and test its effect on the optimization of the warning system design variables. Understanding the impact of social awareness on warning system design is important to make more robust warnings that can

Immediate relativity: EEG reveals early engagement of comparison in social information processing.

PubMed

Ohmann, Katharina; Stahl, Jutta; Mussweiler, Thomas; Kedia, Gayannée

2016-11-01

A wide array of social decisions relies on social comparisons. As such, these decisions require fast access to relative information. Therefore, we expect that signatures of the comparative process should be observable in electrophysiological components at an early stage of information processing. However, to date, little is known about the neural time course of social target comparisons. Therefore, we tested this hypothesis in 2 electroencephalography (EEG) studies using a social distance effect paradigm. The distance effect capitalizes on the fact that stimuli close on a certain dimension take longer to compare than stimuli clearly differing on this dimension. Here, we manipulated the distance of face characteristics regarding their levels of attractiveness (Study 1) and trustworthiness (Study 2), 2 essential social dimensions. In both studies, size comparisons served as a nonsocial control condition. In Study 1, distance related effects were apparent 170 ms (vertex positive potential, VPP) and 200 ms (N2) after stimulus onset for attractiveness comparisons. In Study 2, trustworthiness comparisons took effect already after 100 ms (N1) and likewise carried over to an event-related N2. Remarkably, we observed a similar temporal pattern for social (attractiveness, trustworthiness) and nonsocial (size) dimensions. These results speak in favor of an early encoding of comparative information and emphasize the primary role of comparison in social information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Friendship and Alcohol Use in Early Adolescence: A Multilevel Social Network Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knecht, Andrea B.; Burk, William J.; Weesie, Jeroen; Steglich, Christian

2011-01-01

This study applies multilevel social network analytic techniques to examine processes of homophilic selection and social influence related to alcohol use among friends in early adolescence. Participants included 3,041 Dutch youth (M age =12 years, 49% female) from 120 classrooms in 14 schools. Three waves with 3-month intervals of friendship…

Relations between the school physical environment and school social capital with student physical activity levels

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The physical and social environments at schools are related to students’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels. The purpose of this study was to explore the interactive effects of the school physical environment and school social capital on the MVPA of students while at school. Methods Data from 18,875 grade 6–10 students from 331 schools who participated in the 2009/10 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey were analyzed using multi-level regression. Students answered questions on the amount of time they spend in MVPA at school and on their school’s social capital. Administrator reports were used to create a physical activity related physical environment score. Results The school physical environment score was positively associated with student MVPA at school (β = 0.040, p < .005). The association between the school social capital and MVPA was also positive (β = 0.074, p < .001). The difference in physical environments equated to about 20 minutes/week of MVPA for students attending schools with the lowest number of physical environment features and about 40 minutes/week for students attending schools with the lowest school social capital scores by comparison to students attending schools with the highest scores. Conclusions The findings suggest that school social capital may be a more important factor in increasing students MVPA than the school physical environment. The results of this study may help inform interventions aimed at increasing student physical activity levels. PMID:24341628

[Influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder].

PubMed

Li, Guo-Kai; Liu, Gui-Hua; Qian, Qin-Fang; Ge, Pin; Xie, Yan-Qin; Yang, Min-Yan; Wang, Zhang-Qiong; Ou, Ping

2017-05-01

To investigate the influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The 1-3 Years Child Home Nurture Environment Scale, Gesell Developmental Scale, and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment Scale were used for the evaluation of 125 children with DLD. A total of 130 children with normal language development matched for age and sex were enrolled as control group. Compared with the control group, the DLD group had a significantly higher proportion of children in a bad home nurture environment and significantly lower scores of all domains of home nurture environment (P<0.05). In children with DLD, the home nurture environment score was positively correlated with the level of language development (r=0.536, P<0.01) and the score of ability domain in social emotion (r=0.397, P<0.01) and was negatively correlated with the scores of the domains of explicit behavior, covert behavior, and imbalance in social emotion (r=-0.455, -0.438, and -0.390 respectively, P<0.01). Home nurture environment had direct influence on language development in children with DLD and affected their language development via the mediating effect of social emotion. Home nurture environment influences language development and social emotion in children with DLD, and social emotion has a partial mediating effect between home nurture environment and language development.

Investments for Future: Early Childhood Development and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kartal, Hulya

2007-01-01

Investments relevant to the first years of life are directly connected to the future of societies. It can be argued that investments for early childhood development and education are one of the best ways of decreasing social inequality caused by adverse environments which hinder development in early ages and tackling poverty by reducing the rate…

Reliability and Validity of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition, ECERS-R in Arabic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadeed, Julie

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to test reliabilities and validations for the Arabic translation of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised (ECERS-R) scale [Harms, T., Clifford, R. M., & Cryer, D. (1998). "Early childhood environment rating scale, revised edition." New York: Teachers College Press]. ECERS-R mean scores were…

Early identification: Language skills and social functioning in deaf and hard of hearing preschool children.

PubMed

Netten, Anouk P; Rieffe, Carolien; Theunissen, Stephanie C P M; Soede, Wim; Dirks, Evelien; Korver, Anna M H; Konings, Saskia; Oudesluys-Murphy, Anne Marie; Dekker, Friedo W; Frijns, Johan H M

2015-12-01

Permanent childhood hearing impairment often results in speech and language problems that are already apparent in early childhood. Past studies show a clear link between language skills and the child's social-emotional functioning. The aim of this study was to examine the level of language and communication skills after the introduction of early identification services and their relation with social functioning and behavioral problems in deaf and hard of hearing children. Nationwide cross-sectional observation of a cohort of 85 early identified deaf and hard of hearing preschool children (aged 30-66 months). Parents reported on their child's communicative abilities (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory III), social functioning and appearance of behavioral problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). Receptive and expressive language skills were measured using the Reynell Developmental Language Scale and the Schlichting Expressive Language Test, derived from the child's medical records. Language and communicative abilities of early identified deaf and hard of hearing children are not on a par with hearing peers. Compared to normative scores from hearing children, parents of deaf and hard of hearing children reported lower social functioning and more behavioral problems. Higher communicative abilities were related to better social functioning and less behavioral problems. No relation was found between the degree of hearing loss, age at amplification, uni- or bilateral amplification, mode of communication and social functioning and behavioral problems. These results suggest that improving the communicative abilities of deaf and hard of hearing children could improve their social-emotional functioning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding environment-influenced swarm behavior from a social force perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, J.; Lu, D.; Jiang, Y.; Lee, Z.; Zhang, Y.; Yu, J.

2018-02-01

The relevant research on swarm behavior has focused on the facts that when individuals agree with other members in the system globally consistent behaviors are generated and that individual decisions are completely dominated by other members. In fact, when individuals generate their own behavior strategies, they tend to consider not only the influences of other members but also autonomically consider their current environment. For example, in the social foraging of flocks, the behavior strategy of each individual animal is influenced by the food distribution, and individual movement patterns are characterized by a highly efficient search strategy-Lévy walks. To investigate this, this paper proposes using an environment-driven social force perspective to explore the Lévy walks of individuals in a group in patchy food environments. This model adopts the concept of social force to quantify the social effects and the interactions between individuals and food. The coordination between forces is a key in the formation of individual behavior strategies. Our simulation results show a power-law frequency distribution for agent flight lengths that conforms to Lévy walks and verifies the hypothesis of a relationship between food density and the Lévy index. In our model, the flock still exhibits collective consistency and cohesion and yields a high value for the order parameter and population density when moving between food patches. In addition, our model explains the intraspecific cooperation and competition that occurs during foraging as proposed in related work. The simulation also validates the impact of two inducements for individual behaviors compared with several benchmark models.

Larval cases of caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera) affinity in Early Permian marine environments of Gondwana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mouro, Lucas D.; Zatoń, Michał; Fernandes, Antonio C. S.; Waichel, Breno L.

2016-01-01

Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are small, cosmopolitan insects closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Most caddisflies construct protective cases during their larval development. Although the earliest recognisable caddisflies date back to the early Mesozoic (Early and Middle Triassic), being particularly numerous and diverse during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, the first records of their larval case constructions are known exclusively from much younger, Early to Middle Jurassic non-marine deposits in the northern hemisphere. Here we present fossils from the Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian) marine deposits of Brazil which have strong morphological and compositional similarity to larval cases of caddisflies. If they are, which is very probable, these finds not only push back the fossil record of true caddisflies, but also indicate that their larvae constructed cases at the very beginning of their evolution in marine environments. Since modern caddisflies that construct larval cases in marine environments are only known from eastern Australia and New Zealand, we suggest that this marine ecology may have first evolved in western Gondwana during the Early Permian and later spread across southern Pangea.

Larval cases of caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera) affinity in Early Permian marine environments of Gondwana

PubMed Central

Mouro, Lucas D.; Zatoń, Michał; Fernandes, Antonio C.S.; Waichel, Breno L.

2016-01-01

Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are small, cosmopolitan insects closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Most caddisflies construct protective cases during their larval development. Although the earliest recognisable caddisflies date back to the early Mesozoic (Early and Middle Triassic), being particularly numerous and diverse during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, the first records of their larval case constructions are known exclusively from much younger, Early to Middle Jurassic non-marine deposits in the northern hemisphere. Here we present fossils from the Early Permian (Asselian–Sakmarian) marine deposits of Brazil which have strong morphological and compositional similarity to larval cases of caddisflies. If they are, which is very probable, these finds not only push back the fossil record of true caddisflies, but also indicate that their larvae constructed cases at the very beginning of their evolution in marine environments. Since modern caddisflies that construct larval cases in marine environments are only known from eastern Australia and New Zealand, we suggest that this marine ecology may have first evolved in western Gondwana during the Early Permian and later spread across southern Pangea. PMID:26765261

Larval cases of caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera) affinity in Early Permian marine environments of Gondwana.

PubMed

Mouro, Lucas D; Zatoń, Michał; Fernandes, Antonio C S; Waichel, Breno L

2016-01-14

Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are small, cosmopolitan insects closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Most caddisflies construct protective cases during their larval development. Although the earliest recognisable caddisflies date back to the early Mesozoic (Early and Middle Triassic), being particularly numerous and diverse during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, the first records of their larval case constructions are known exclusively from much younger, Early to Middle Jurassic non-marine deposits in the northern hemisphere. Here we present fossils from the Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian) marine deposits of Brazil which have strong morphological and compositional similarity to larval cases of caddisflies. If they are, which is very probable, these finds not only push back the fossil record of true caddisflies, but also indicate that their larvae constructed cases at the very beginning of their evolution in marine environments. Since modern caddisflies that construct larval cases in marine environments are only known from eastern Australia and New Zealand, we suggest that this marine ecology may have first evolved in western Gondwana during the Early Permian and later spread across southern Pangea.

Understanding Social and Emotional Needs as an Approach in Developing a Positive Classroom Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozorio, Kristen

2014-01-01

The classroom environment is an important aspect of classroom management that concerns many teachers. Properly engaging students in the classroom can foster a positive environment. This study examines social and emotional needs of students and its implications in developing a positive classroom. How can meeting social and emotional needs of…

The person-in-environment approach: professional ideology and practice of social workers in Israel.

PubMed

Weiss-Gal, Idit

2008-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the person-in-environment approach is part of the professional ideology of social workers in Israel and the degree to which they actualize it in their professional practice. The study examines the perceived importance of various goals of the social work profession and the perceived fittingness of diverse social work activities, actual professional activities, practice levels, and perceived attainment of social work goals. Based on the responses of 400 social workers from a wide variety of social services agencies in Israel, the results indicate that ideologically, the workers place a dual focus on the individual and society, with focus on the individual somewhat stronger. However, in practice the social dimension is marginal and the person-in-environment approach is hardly evident.

The star formation history of early-type galaxies as a function of mass and environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clemens, M. S.; Bressan, A.; Nikolic, B.; Alexander, P.; Annibali, F.; Rampazzo, R.

2006-08-01

Using the third data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we have rigorously defined a volume-limited sample of early-type galaxies in the redshift range 0.005 < z <= 0.1. We have defined the density of the local environment for each galaxy using a method which takes account of the redshift bias introduced by survey boundaries if traditional methods are used. At luminosities greater than our absolute r-band magnitude cut-off of -20.45, the mean density of environment shows no trend with redshift. We calculate the Lick indices for the entire sample and correct for aperture effects and velocity dispersion in a model-independent way. Although we find no dependence of redshift or luminosity on environment, we do find that the mean velocity dispersion, σ, of early-type galaxies in dense environments tends to be higher than in low-density environments. Taking account of this effect, we find that several indices show small but very significant trends with environment that are not the result of the correlation between indices and velocity dispersion. The statistical significance of the data is sufficiently high to reveal that models accounting only for α-enhancement struggle to produce a consistent picture of age and metallicity of the sample galaxies, whereas a model that also includes carbon enhancement fares much better. We find that early-type galaxies in the field are younger than those in environments typical of clusters but that neither metallicity, α-enhancement nor carbon enhancement are influenced by the environment. The youngest early-type galaxies in both field and cluster environments are those with the lowest σ. However, there is some evidence that the objects with the largest σ are slightly younger, especially in denser environments. Independent of environment both the metallicity and α-enhancement grow monotonically with σ. This suggests that the typical length of the star formation episodes which formed the stars of early-type galaxies

Neighbourhood and own social housing and early problem behaviour trajectories.

PubMed

Flouri, Eirini; Midouhas, Emily; Tzatzaki, Konstantina

2015-02-01

To explore the roles of proportion of social rented housing in the neighbourhood ('neighbourhood social housing'), own housing being socially rented, and their interaction in early trajectories of emotional, conduct and hyperactivity symptoms. We tested three pathways of effects: family stress and maternal psychological distress, low quality parenting practices, and peer problems. We used data from 9,850 Millennium Cohort Study families who lived in England when the cohort children were aged 3. Children's emotional, conduct and hyperactivity problems were measured at ages 3, 5 and 7. Even after accounting for own social housing, neighbourhood social housing was related to all problems and their trajectories. Its association with conduct problems and hyperactivity was explained by selection. Selection also explained the effect of the interaction between neighbourhood and own social housing on hyperactivity, but not why children of social renter families living in neighbourhoods with lower concentrations of social housing followed a rising trajectory of emotional problems. The effects of own social housing, neighbourhood social housing and their interaction on emotional problems were robust. Peer problems explained the association of own social housing with hyperactivity. Neither selection nor the pathways we tested explained the association of own social housing with conduct problems, the association of neighbourhood social housing with their growth, or the association of neighbourhood social housing, own social housing and their interaction with emotional problems. Children of social renter families in neighbourhoods with a low concentration of social renters are particularly vulnerable to emotional problems.

How does social functioning in the early stages of psychosis relate to depression and social anxiety?

PubMed

Chudleigh, Catherine; Naismith, Sharon L; Blaszczynski, Alex; Hermens, Daniel F; Hodge, M Antoinette Redoblado; Hickie, Ian B

2011-08-01

The study aims to compare social functioning in young people considered to be at risk of psychosis with those meeting criteria for first episode psychosis (FEP) and controls, and to determine the association between social functioning and positive and negative symptoms, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety. This study examined social functioning in 20 individuals at risk of psychosis, 20 FEP patients and 20 healthy controls. Social functioning was measured using the Social Functioning Scale and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale. Psychiatric variables were also measured using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Brief Social Phobia Scale, and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. At-risk individuals had comparable social deficits to the FEP group, and both patient groups had significantly poorer social functioning than controls. Importantly, social functioning was most strongly associated with depressive and social anxiety symptoms and to a lesser extent with positive symptoms. However, negative symptoms did not appear to relate to social functioning. Social functioning impairments precede the onset of full-threshold psychosis and may therefore be a significant marker for the illness. Additionally, associated psychiatric symptoms such as depression and social anxiety may provide an avenue for early interventions of social functioning deficits in psychosis. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Determinants of self-esteem in early psychosis: The role of perceived social dominance.

PubMed

MacDougall, Arlene G; Vandermeer, Matthew R J; Norman, Ross M G

2017-12-01

Self-esteem plays a role in the formation and maintenance of symptoms and in the recovery from psychotic illness. This study examines the relative contribution of perceived social dominance and other known predictors in determining self-esteem in 102 individuals in an early intervention program for psychosis. Regression analysis demonstrated that scores on the Perceived Relational Evaluation Scale (PRES), depressed mood, social dominance, gender and positive symptoms significantly contributed to the prediction of scores on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES), whereas self-stigma and negative symptoms did not. Our study suggests that low self-esteem in early psychosis can be understood in part as a reflection of low levels of perceived social value and status. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of the Physical Environment on the Social Integration of Individuals with Disabilities in Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Keith M.

2010-01-01

Social integration in community is especially important for individuals with disabilities well-being. Although individuals with disabilities reside within the community's physical environment, they are often marginalized in the social environment. This may be the result of individuals with disabilities residing in physical environments that…

Early Childhood Teachers' Perspectives on Social-Emotional Competence and Learning in Urban Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Humphries, Marisha L.; Williams, Brittney V.; May, Tanginia

2018-01-01

The promotion of social-emotional competence and implementation of social-emotional learning programs have increased substantially in schools; however, little is known about teachers' perceptions of such programs. This qualitative study explored early childhood (3 to 8 years old) teachers' perceptions of classroom-based social-emotional learning…

[Air pollutant exposure during pregnancy and fetal and early childhood development. Research protocol of the INMA (Childhood and Environment Project)].

PubMed

Esplugues, Ana; Fernández-Patier, Rosalía; Aguilera, Inma; Iñíguez, Carmen; García Dos Santos, Saúl; Aguirre Alfaro, Amelia; Lacasaña, Marina; Estarlich, Marisa; Grimalt, Joan O; Fernández, Marieta; Rebagliato, Marisa; Sala, María; Tardón, Adonina; Torrent, Maties; Martínez, María Dolores; Ribas-Fitó, Núria; Sunyer, Jordi; Ballester, Ferran

2007-01-01

The INMA (INfancia y Medio Ambiente [Spanish for Environment and Childhood]) project is a cooperative research network. This project aims to study the effects of environment and diet on fetal and early childhood development. This article aims to present the air pollutant exposure protocol during pregnancy and fetal and early childhood development of the INMA project. The information to assess air pollutant exposure during pregnancy is based on outdoor measurement of air pollutants (nitrogen dioxide [NO2], volatile organic compounds [VOC], ozone, particulate matter [PM10, PM2,5 ] and of their composition [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons]); measurement of indoor and personal exposure (VOC and NO2); urinary measurement of a biological marker of hydrocarbon exposure (1-hydroxypyrene); and data gathered by questionnaires and geographic information systems. These data allow individual air pollutant exposure indexes to be developed, which can then be used to analyze the possible effects of exposure on fetal development and child health. This protocol and the type of study allow an approximation to individual air pollutant exposure to be obtained. Finally, the large number of participants (N = 4,000), as well as their geographic and social diversity, increases the study's potential.

Evaluating the Adequacy of Social-Emotional Measures in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gokiert, Rebecca J.; Georgis, Rebecca; Tremblay, Melissa; Krishnan, Vijaya; Vandenberghe, Christine; Lee, Clara

2014-01-01

Technical adequacy and usability are important considerations in selecting early childhood social-emotional (SE) screening and assessment measures. As identification of difficulties can be tied to programming, intervention, accountability, and funding, it is imperative that practitioners and decision makers select appropriate and quality measures…

Children in the Urban Environment. Linking Social Policy and Clinical Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Norma Kolko, Ed.; Straussner, Shulamith Lala Ashenberg, Ed.

The 12 chapters of this volume offer a comprehensive portrait of today's children and their challenging urban environments. The opportunities and obstacles that confront children are examined in detail, and key social problems are discussed in the following contributions: (1) "Growing Up in the Urban Environment: Opportunities and Obstacles for…

Using Print in the Environment to Promote Early Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gerde, Hope K.; Goetsch, Megan E.; Bingham, Gary E.

2016-01-01

Print in the environment is typically posted in early childhood classrooms. However, the print that exists is often not meaningful to children, and teachers rarely engage children in using the print. This is a missed opportunity to support children's writing. This article presents research-based ideas for engaging children with meaningful print in…

Do You "Want" to Play? Distinguishing between Conflicted Shyness and Social Disinterest in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coplan, Robert J.; Prakash, Kavita; O'Neil, Kim; Armer, Mandana

2004-01-01

This study attempted to distinguish two types of social withdrawal in early childhood: (a) one based on social fear and anxiety despite a desire to interact socially (conflicted shyness) and (b) one based on the lack of a strong motivation to engage in social interaction (social disinterest). Two samples of preschoolers (n = 119 and n = 127) 3-5…

[Social environment and risky eating behaviors: an exploratory study in adolescent females in Mexico].

PubMed

Bojorquez, Ietza; Saucedo-Molina, Teresita de Jesús; Juárez-García, Francisco; Unikel-Santoncini, Claudia

2013-01-01

The objectives of the current study were to explore: (1) the association between the social environment at the city and family levels and risky eating behaviors in adolescent females and (2) the interaction between the social and cultural environment and body mass index (BMI). The data were obtained from a representative survey of female high school students in Mexico State, Mexico (15-19 years). A questionnaire was applied on risky eating behaviors and socio-demographic data. The municipal social and cultural environment was evaluated using the municipal marginalization index. Data analysis used multivariate regression. Prevalence of risky eating behaviors was 4.23%. BMI and family socioeconomic status were directly associated with risky eating behaviors. The municipal marginalization index was not associated with risky eating behaviors. Possible explanations for the latter are that the relevant components of the social and cultural environment were not measured, or that the municipal level does not exert a contextual effect on risky eating behaviors. The effect of BMI on risky eating behaviors was greater in more marginalized municipalities.

Professional behaviors, sense of belonging, and professional socialization of early career clinical laboratory scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schill, Janna Marie

Professional socialization is a process that individuals experience as members of a profession and consists of the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences that influence and shape their professional identity. The process of professional socialization has not been studied in the clinical laboratory science profession. Clinical laboratory science is an allied health profession that is faced by a workforce shortage that has been caused by a decrease in new graduates, decreased retention of qualified professionals, and increased retirements. Other allied health professions such as nursing, athletic training, and pharmacy have studied professional socialization as a way to identify factors that may influence the retention of early career professionals. This mixed method study, which quantitatively used Hall's Professionalism Scale (1968) in addition to qualitative focus group interviews, sought to identify the professional attitudes and behaviors, sense of belonging, and professional socialization of early career clinical laboratory scientists. Early career clinical laboratory scientists were divided into two groups based upon the amount of work experience they had; new clinical laboratory science graduates have had less than one year of work experience and novice clinical laboratory scientists had between one and three years of work experience. This study found that early career clinical laboratory scientists have established professional identities and view themselves as members of the clinical laboratory science field within four proposed stages of professional socialization consisting of pre-arrival, encounter, adaptation, and commitment. New CLS graduates and novice clinical laboratory scientists were found to be at different stages of the professional stage process. New CLS graduates, who had less than one year of work experience, were found to be in the encounter stage. Novice clinical laboratory scientists, with one to three years of work experience, were found to

A Virtual Bioinformatics Knowledge Environment for Early Cancer Detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crichton, Daniel; Srivastava, Sudhir; Johnsey, Donald

2003-01-01

Discovery of disease biomarkers for cancer is a leading focus of early detection. The National Cancer Institute created a network of collaborating institutions focused on the discovery and validation of cancer biomarkers called the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). Informatics plays a key role in enabling a virtual knowledge environment that provides scientists real time access to distributed data sets located at research institutions across the nation. The distributed and heterogeneous nature of the collaboration makes data sharing across institutions very difficult. EDRN has developed a comprehensive informatics effort focused on developing a national infrastructure enabling seamless access, sharing and discovery of science data resources across all EDRN sites. This paper will discuss the EDRN knowledge system architecture, its objectives and its accomplishments.

The Relationship between Motor, Imitation, and Early Social Communication Skills in Children with Autism.

PubMed

Dadgar, Hooshang; Alaghband Rad, Javad; Soleymani, Zahra; Khorammi, Anahita; McCleery, Joe; Maroufizadeh, Saman

2017-10-01

Objective: Development of early social skills in children is a complex process. To understand this process, it is important to assess how strengths or weaknesses in other developmental domains may be affected by these skills. The present study aimed at investigating the association of motor skills and imitation ability with early social communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method: In this study, 20 children with ASD aged 3 to 5 years (M = 4.05, SD = 0.55) participated. All children were diagnosed as ASD based on the DSM-V criteria by an independent child psychiatrist. Additionally, Autism Diagnostic interview-Revised was used for subsequent diagnostic confirmation. Children were tested with Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2), the Motor Imitation Scale (MIS), and the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS). All examinations were videotaped for subsequent scoring. The relationship between these skills was estimated by Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: A significant and strong correlation was obtained between TGMD total score and imitation total score (r =.776; p <0.001). However, the relationship between MIS subscales and TGMD-2 locomotor subtest scores was not significant (P>0.05). A significant correlation was found between MIS and TGMD total scores with Initiating Joint Attention and Responding to Joint Attention (p≤0/025) as ESCS subscales. But MIS and TGMD total scores were not correlated with social interaction and responding to behavioral requests subscales. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that indicated both imitation ability and motor function have an association with each other and with early social communication skills.

The Relationship between Motor, Imitation, and Early Social Communication Skills in Children with Autism

PubMed Central

Dadgar, Hooshang; Alaghband Rad, Javad; Soleymani, Zahra; Khorammi, Anahita; McCleery, Joe; Maroufizadeh, Saman

2017-01-01

Objective: Development of early social skills in children is a complex process. To understand this process, it is important to assess how strengths or weaknesses in other developmental domains may be affected by these skills. The present study aimed at investigating the association of motor skills and imitation ability with early social communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method: In this study, 20 children with ASD aged 3 to 5 years (M = 4.05, SD = 0.55) participated. All children were diagnosed as ASD based on the DSM-V criteria by an independent child psychiatrist. Additionally, Autism Diagnostic interview-Revised was used for subsequent diagnostic confirmation. Children were tested with Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2), the Motor Imitation Scale (MIS), and the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS). All examinations were videotaped for subsequent scoring. The relationship between these skills was estimated by Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: A significant and strong correlation was obtained between TGMD total score and imitation total score (r =.776; p <0.001). However, the relationship between MIS subscales and TGMD-2 locomotor subtest scores was not significant (P>0.05). A significant correlation was found between MIS and TGMD total scores with Initiating Joint Attention and Responding to Joint Attention (p≤0/025) as ESCS subscales. But MIS and TGMD total scores were not correlated with social interaction and responding to behavioral requests subscales. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that indicated both imitation ability and motor function have an association with each other and with early social communication skills. PMID:29472949

Family social environment in childhood and self-rated health in young adulthood

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Family social support, as a form of social capital, contributes to social health disparities at different age of life. In a life-course epidemiological perspective, the aims of our study were to examine the association between self-reported family social environment during childhood and self-reported health in young adulthood and to assess the role of family functioning during childhood as a potential mediating factor in explaining the association between family breakup in childhood and self-reported health in young adulthood. Methods We analyzed data from the first wave of the Health, Inequalities and Social Ruptures Survey (SIRS), a longitudinal health and socio-epidemiological survey of a random sample of 3000 households initiated in the Paris metropolitan area in 2005. Sample-weighted logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between the quality of family social environment in childhood and self-rated health (overall health, physical health and psychological well-being) in young adults (n = 1006). We used structural equation model to explore the mediating role of the quality of family functioning in childhood in the association between family breakup in childhood and self-rated health in young adulthood. Results The multivariate results support an association between a negative family social environment in childhood and poor self-perceived health in adulthood. The association found between parental separation or divorce in childhood and poor self-perceived health in adulthood was mediated by parent-child relationships and by having witnessed interparental violence during childhood. Conclusion These results argue for interventions that enhance family cohesion, particularly after family disruptions during childhood, to promote health in young adulthood. PMID:22192716

An observational study of the interactions of socially withdrawn/anxious early adolescents and their friends.

PubMed

Schneider, Barry H

2009-07-01

The friendships of socially withdrawn/anxious children and early adolescents have been found to lack critical rewarding qualities. Observational research may help elucidate the obstacles they face in forming and maintaining high-quality friendships with sociable peers. We observed the interactions of 38 socially withdrawn early adolescents with their friends and compared them to a community control group. In negotiating the sharing of an object, the socially withdrawn, anxious group was more passive than controls. The socially withdrawn, anxious participants engaged less actively in a fast-paced game involving miniature cars. While completing a quiet drawing task, the socially anxious, withdrawn participants tended to refrain from comparing their work to that of their friends. In all three of our closed-field situations, the socially withdrawn, anxious participants displayed relatively neutral affect in comparison with the control group. These results suggest that the social withdrawal and social anxiety of children with social phobia are very evident even within the confines of their close friendships. Therefore, therapeutic interventions at the level of the dyad may be indicated.

The Intersection of Social Presence and Impression Management in Online Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houtman, Eveline; Makos, Alexandra; Meacock, Heather-Lynne

2014-01-01

In our day-to-day routines, we are being asked to extend ourselves into virtual environments that capture mere glimpses of who we are and what we think. As education focuses on the development of online learning environments, we are once again asked to recreate ourselves for another environment. This article explores aspects of social presence and…

Food environment, social deprivation and obesity among students from Brazilian public schools.

PubMed

Assis, Maíra Macário de; Leite, Maria Alvim; Carmo, Ariene Silva do; Andrade, Amanda Cristina de Souza; Pessoa, Milene Cristine; Netto, Michele Pereira; Cândido, Ana Paula Carlos; Mendes, Larissa Loures

2018-05-11

To investigate the relationship between social deprivation and the food environment. Furthermore, to evaluate if the food environment is associated with the prevalence of obesity among students in Brazilian public schools. Cross-sectional. For the classification of obesity, weight and height were measured, and the cut-off point of BMI-for-age Z-score >+2 was adopted. Social deprivation level was determined from the Health Vulnerability Index (HVI). To assess the food environment, the density of food establishments in urban residential areas was calculated. Associations between the food environment and the presence of obesity were estimated by binary logistic regression through a generalized estimating equations model. Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Children and adolescents (n 661) aged 7-14 years. The lowest social deprivation level showed a higher density of all types of establishments that sold predominantly unhealthy foods. An inverse association was found between the density of supermarkets and hypermarkets and the presence of obesity (OR=0·58; 95 % CI 0·36, 0·93). For the other categories of food retailers, no significant differences were found. The findings reinforce the need for public policies that promote equality in the food environments of the city. Also, further investigations into the influence of the presence of supermarkets on the nutritional status of children and adolescents are required.

Understanding Physical Activity through Interactions Between the Built Environment and Social Cognition: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Rhodes, Ryan E; Saelens, Brian E; Sauvage-Mar, Claire

2018-05-16

Few people in most developed nations engage in regular physical activity (PA), despite its well-established health benefits. Socioecological models highlight the potential interaction of multiple factors from policy and the built environment to individual social cognition in explaining PA. The purpose of this review was to appraise this interaction tenet of the socioecological model between the built environment and social cognition to predict PA. Eligible studies had to have been published in peer-reviewed journals in the English language, and included any tests of interaction between social cognition and the built environment with PA. Literature searches, concluded in October 2017, used five common databases. Findings were grouped by type of PA outcomes (leisure, transportation, total PA and total moderate-vigorous PA [MVPA]), then grouped by the type of interactions between social cognitive and built environment constructs. The initial search yielded 308 hits, which was reduced to 22 independent studies of primarily high- to medium-quality after screening for eligibility criteria. The interaction tenet of the socioecological model was not supported for overall MVPA and total PA. By contrast, while there was heterogeneity of findings for leisure-time PA, environmental accessibility/convenience interacted with intention, and environmental aesthetics interacted with affective judgments, to predict leisure-time PA. Interactions between the built environment and social cognition in PA for transport are limited, with current results failing to support an effect. The results provide some support for interactive aspects of the built environment and social cognition in leisure-time PA, and thus highlight potential areas for integrated intervention of individual and environmental change.

Prospective associations between prosocial behavior and social dominance in early childhood: are sharers the best leaders?

PubMed

Ostrov, Jamie M; Guzzo, Jamie L

2015-01-01

A short-term longitudinal study during early childhood (N = 96; M = 42.80; SD = 7.57) investigated the concurrent and prospective association between prosocial behavior and social dominance. Time-intensive school-based focal child sampling with continuous recording observations of prosocial behavior to peers were conducted and teacher-reports of social dominance were collected. The study documents significant prospective links between prosocial behavior to peers and increases in social dominance over time. Social dominance was not associated with changes in prosocial behavior. The findings extend past empirical work in early childhood and future directions are discussed.

Gender and the Social Order in Early Modern England.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amussen, Susan Dwyer

The place of the family and the relationship between gender and social order in England between 1560 and 1725 are examined. The fear of disorder so prevalent in England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries was caused by the doubling of the population and extremely poor economic conditions. In the attempt to enforce order, the analogy between…

Male Teachers in Early Childhood Education: Self & Social Perceptions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaham, Dan

Noting that men make up only a small percentage of early childhood and day care educators, a study was conducted to assess male teachers' points of view and attitudes. The self- and social-perceptions of 5 male preschool teachers between the ages of 22 and 50 were determined through ethnographic interviews. It was found that, as a group, the male…

Resources on Social and Emotional Development and Early Learning Standards. CEELO FastFacts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connors-Tadros, L.

2013-01-01

In this "FastFacts," a state's Department of Education requests information from the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) on how the research defines skills in social-emotional development, approaches to learning, and executive function, to inform planned revisions to the early childhood indicators of progress for children…

The family environment predicts long-term academic achievement and classroom behavior following traumatic brain injury in early childhood.

PubMed

Durber, Chelsea M; Yeates, Keith Owen; Taylor, H Gerry; Walz, Nicolay Chertkoff; Stancin, Terry; Wade, Shari L

2017-07-01

This study examined how the family environment predicts long-term academic and behavioral functioning in school following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in early childhood. Using a concurrent cohort, prospective design, 15 children with severe TBI, 39 with moderate TBI, and 70 with orthopedic injury (OI) who were injured when they were 3-7 years of age were compared on tests of academic achievement and parent and teacher ratings of school performance and behavior on average 6.83 years postinjury. Soon after injury and at the longer term follow-up, families completed measures of parental psychological distress, family functioning, and quality of the home environment. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined group differences in academic outcomes and their associations with measures of the early and later family environment. The severe TBI group, but not the moderate TBI group, performed worse than did the OI group on all achievement tests, parent ratings of academic performance, and teacher ratings of internalizing problems. Higher quality early and late home environments predicted stronger academic skills and better classroom behavior for children with both TBI and OI. The early family environment more consistently predicted academic achievement, whereas the later family environment more consistently predicted classroom functioning. The quality of the home environment predicted academic outcomes more strongly than did parental psychological distress or family functioning. TBI in early childhood has long-term consequences for academic achievement and school performance and behavior. Higher quality early and later home environments predict better school outcomes for both children with TBI and children with OI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Social neighborhood environment and sports participation among Dutch adults: does sports location matter?

PubMed

Kramer, D; Stronks, K; Maas, J; Wingen, M; Kunst, A E

2015-04-01

Studies on the relation between the social neighborhood environment and sports participation have produced inconsistent results. Use of generic sports outcomes may have obscured associations only apparent for sports at certain locations. This study aims to assess the association between the social neighborhood environment and three location-specific sports outcomes. Repeated cross-sectional data on sports participation (any type of sports, sports at indoor sports clubs, sports at outdoor sports clubs, sports on streets) were obtained from 20 600 adults using the Dutch national health survey 2006-2009. Data on neighborhood social safety and social capital were obtained using the Dutch Housing Research 2006. Over 40% of Dutch adults participated in any type of sports. Indoor sports clubs were most popular. Multilevel logistic regression analyses revealed that neighborhood social safety was positively associated with sports at indoor sports clubs [odds ratio (OR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06-1.48), but not with the other sports outcomes. Contrary, neighborhood social capital was positively associated with sports on streets only (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.17-2.44). The results suggest that a positive social neighborhood environment enhances sports participation, but that this impact depends on the location of the sports activity. This study highlights the importance of using location-specific sports outcomes when assessing environmental determinants. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Helping Families Connect Early Literacy with Social-Emotional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santos, Rosa Milagros; Fettig, Angel; Shaffer, LaShorage

2012-01-01

Early childhood educators know that home is a child's first learning environment. From birth, children are comforted by hearing and listening to their caregivers' voices. The language used by families supports young children's development of oral language skills. Exposure to print materials in the home also supports literacy development. Literacy…

Students' perception of the psycho-social clinical learning environment: an evaluation of placement models.

PubMed

Henderson, Amanda; Twentyman, Michelle; Heel, Alison; Lloyd, Belinda

2006-10-01

Nursing is a practice based discipline. A supportive environment has been identified as important for the transfer of learning in the clinical context. The aim of the paper was to assess undergraduate nurses' perceptions of the psychosocial characteristics of clinical learning environments within three different clinical placement models. Three hundred and eight-nine undergraduate nursing students rated their perceptions of the psycho-social learning environment using a Clinical Learning Environment Inventory. There were 16 respondents in the Preceptor model category, 269 respondents in the Facilitation model category and 114 respondents in the clinical education unit model across 25 different clinical areas in one tertiary facility. The most positive social climate was associated with the preceptor model. On all subscales the median score was rated higher than the two other models. When clinical education units were compared with the standard facilitation model the median score was rated higher in all of the subscales in the Clinical Learning Environment Inventory. These results suggest that while preceptoring is an effective clinical placement strategy that provides psycho-social support for students, clinical education units that are more sustainable through their placement of greater numbers of students, can provide greater psycho-social support for students than traditional models.

Modeling Age-Friendly Environment, Active Aging, and Social Connectedness in an Emerging Asian Economy.

PubMed

Lai, Ming-Ming; Lein, Shi-Ying; Lau, Siok-Hwa; Lai, Ming-Ling

2016-01-01

This paper empirically tested eight key features of WHO guidelines to age-friendly community by surveying 211 informal caregivers and 402 self-care adults (aged 45 to 85 and above) in Malaysia. We examined the associations of these eight features with active aging and social connectedness through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. A structural model with satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices (CMIN/df = 1.11, RMSEA = 0.02, NFI = 0.97, TLI = 1.00, CFI = 1.00, and GFI = 0.96) indicates that transportation and housing, community support and health services, and outdoor spaces and buildings are statistically significant in creating an age-friendly environment. We found a statistically significant positive relationship between an age-friendly environment and active aging. This relationship is mediated by social connectedness. The results indicate that built environments such as accessible public transportations and housing, affordable and accessible healthcare services, and elderly friendly outdoor spaces and buildings have to be put into place before social environment in building an age-friendly environment. Otherwise, the structural barriers would hinder social interactions for the aged. The removal of the environmental barriers and improved public transportation services provide short-term solutions to meet the varied and growing needs of the older population.

Modeling Age-Friendly Environment, Active Aging, and Social Connectedness in an Emerging Asian Economy

PubMed Central

Lai, Ming-Ming; Lein, Shi-Ying; Lau, Siok-Hwa; Lai, Ming-Ling

2016-01-01

This paper empirically tested eight key features of WHO guidelines to age-friendly community by surveying 211 informal caregivers and 402 self-care adults (aged 45 to 85 and above) in Malaysia. We examined the associations of these eight features with active aging and social connectedness through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. A structural model with satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices (CMIN/df = 1.11, RMSEA = 0.02, NFI = 0.97, TLI = 1.00, CFI = 1.00, and GFI = 0.96) indicates that transportation and housing, community support and health services, and outdoor spaces and buildings are statistically significant in creating an age-friendly environment. We found a statistically significant positive relationship between an age-friendly environment and active aging. This relationship is mediated by social connectedness. The results indicate that built environments such as accessible public transportations and housing, affordable and accessible healthcare services, and elderly friendly outdoor spaces and buildings have to be put into place before social environment in building an age-friendly environment. Otherwise, the structural barriers would hinder social interactions for the aged. The removal of the environmental barriers and improved public transportation services provide short-term solutions to meet the varied and growing needs of the older population. PMID:27293889

Effects of the level of early productivity on the lifespan of ewes in contrasting flock environments.

PubMed

Douhard, F; Jopson, N B; Friggens, N C; Amer, P R

2016-12-01

Selection for high levels of prolificacy has allowed substantial improvements in the production efficiency of New Zealand (NZ) sheep farms, but the consequences on ewe lifetime performance are mostly unknown. In this study, the relationship between the level of prolificacy early in ewes' productive lives and their probability to survive later (i.e. stayability) was evaluated in two contrasting NZ flock environments. Records were obtained from 6605 ewes from four ram breeder flocks representing either a moderate (n=2) or a highly variable (n=2) nutritional environment. All ewes lambed for the first time at 2 years of age and were mated the following year. The number of lambs born during the first 2 years of productive life (NLB2-3) was used as a measure of early prolificacy. Effects of NLB2-3 on stayability to 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 years old were analysed using logistic regression. Curvilinear effects (logit-transformed) were detected (P<0.05) until stayability to 6 years and to 8 years old in the highly variable and the moderate environment, respectively. The NLB2-3 that resulted in maximum expected stayability to various ages was 3.9 to 4.2, and 4.5 to 4.7 lambs in the highly variable and in the moderate flock environments, respectively. In addition, ewe stayability was reduced when the proportion of the litter that survived from birth to weaning (i.e. ewe rearing ability) was submaximal during the early productive life. High prolific ewes had a low rearing ability whatever the environment whereas the rearing ability of lowly prolific ewes was apparently more sensitive to the nutritional environment. The poor maternal performance of ewes with low levels of NLB2-3 led to a premature culling by breeders whereas the high early reproductive effort associated with high levels of NLB2-3 seemed to be at the cost of ewes' survival, even in the moderate flock environment. In conclusion, the flock environment influenced the level of early prolificacy beyond which ewe longevity

Understanding Social Media and Mass Mobilization in the Operational Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-21

Word of mouth became the main tool for planning the next steps, confirmed Saif. Demonstrators at Tahrir agreed before they left to convene the next day...environment. Whereas large groups had to rely on information distributed in the group through word of mouth in the past, modern mass mobilization uses social...Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT The advent of social media combined with unfettered access to inexpensive mobile electronic devices has

Social-Emotional Effects of Early Childhood Education Programs in Tulsa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gormley, William T., Jr.; Phillips, Deborah A.; Newmark, Katie; Welti, Kate; Adelstein, Shirley

2011-01-01

This article assesses the effects of Tulsa, Oklahoma's early childhood education programs on social-emotional outcomes, examining teacher ratings of children's behavior from the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention and a measure of attentiveness using fixed effects regressions with propensity score matching. The sample includes 2,832…

Implementing an Inpatient Social Early Warning System for Child Maltreatment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atabaki, Armita; Heddaeus, Daniela; Metzner, Franka; Schulz, Holger; Siefert, Sonke; Pawils, Silke

2013-01-01

Objectives: The current article describes the process evaluation of a social early warning system (SEWS) for the prevention of child maltreatment in the federal state of Hamburg. This prevention initiative targets expectant mothers and their partners including an initial screening of risk factors for child maltreatment, a subsequent structured…

Intraspecific variation in social organization by genetic variation, developmental plasticity, social flexibility or entirely extrinsic factors.

PubMed

Schradin, Carsten

2013-05-19

Previously, it was widely believed that each species has a specific social organization, but we know now that many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization. Four different processes can lead to intraspecific variation in social organization: (i) genetic variation between individuals owing to local adaptation (between populations) or evolutionarily stable strategies within populations; (ii) developmental plasticity evolved in long-term (more than one generation) unpredictable and short-term (one generation) predictable environments, which is mediated by organizational physiological effects during early ontogeny; (iii) social flexibility evolved in highly unpredictable environments, which is mediated by activational physiological effects in adults; (iv) entirely extrinsic factors such as the death of a dominant breeder. Variation in social behaviour occurs between individuals in the case of genetic variation and developmental plasticity, but within individuals in the case of social flexibility. It is important to study intraspecific variation in social organization to understand the social systems of species because it reveals the mechanisms by which species can adapt to changing environments, offers a useful tool to study the ultimate and proximate causes of sociality, and is an interesting phenomenon by itself that needs scientific explanation.

Does the social environment moderate associations of the built environment with Latinas' objectively-measured neighborhood outdoor physical activity?

PubMed

Perez, L G; Carlson, J; Slymen, D J; Patrick, K; Kerr, J; Godbole, S; Elder, J P; Ayala, G X; Arredondo, E M

2016-12-01

Favorable perceptions of the built and social neighborhood environment may promote outdoor physical activity (PA). However, little is known about their independent and interactive effects on neighborhood-specific outdoor PA. We examined associations of perceived built and social neighborhood environment factors, and their interactions, with objectively-measured neighborhood outdoor moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among a sample of Latina women in San Diego, CA. Analyses included baseline data collected in 2011-2013 from 86 Latinas with ≥ 2 days of combined accelerometer and global positioning system data and complete survey measures. We examined objective neighborhood outdoor MVPA within 500-meter home buffers. Generalized linear mixed models examined associations of 3 perceived built (e.g., sidewalk maintenance) and 3 social environmental (e.g., safety from crime) factors with engaging in any daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA. Models tested interactions between the built and social environmental factors. Although the perceived neighborhood environmental factors were not significantly related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA, we found 2 significant interactions: perceived sidewalk maintenance x safety from crime ( p  = 0.05) and neighborhood aesthetics x neighborhood social cohesion ( p  = 0.03). Sidewalk maintenance was positively related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA only among Latinas that reported low levels of safety from crime. Neighborhood aesthetics was positively related to daily neighborhood outdoor MVPA only among Latinas with high neighborhood social cohesion. Findings suggest several built and social environmental factors interact to influence Latinas' neighborhood outdoor MVPA. Interventions are needed targeting both built and social neighborhood environmental factors favorable to outdoor PA in the neighborhood.

The Neighborhood Social Environment and Objective Measures of Sleep in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

PubMed

Johnson, Dayna A; Simonelli, Guido; Moore, Kari; Billings, Martha; Mujahid, Mahasin S; Rueschman, Michael; Kawachi, Ichiro; Redline, Susan; Diez Roux, Ana V; Patel, Sanjay R

2017-01-01

To investigate cross-sectional associations of neighborhood social environment (social cohesion, safety) with objective measures of sleep duration, timing, and disturbances. A racially/ethnically diverse population of men and women (N = 1949) aged 54 to 93 years participating in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Sleep and Neighborhood Ancillary studies. Participants underwent 1-week actigraphy between 2010 and 2013. Measures of sleep duration, timing, and disruption were averaged over all days. Neighborhood characteristics were assessed via questionnaires administered to participants and an independent sample within the same neighborhood and aggregated at the neighborhood (census tract, N = 783) level using empirical Bayes estimation. Multilevel linear regression models were used to assess the association between the neighborhood social environment and each sleep outcome. Neighborhood social environment characterized by higher levels of social cohesion and safety were associated with longer sleep duration and earlier sleep midpoint. Each 1 standard deviation higher neighborhood social environment score was associated with 6.1 minutes longer [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.0, 10.2] sleep duration and 6.4 minutes earlier (CI: 2.2, 10.6) sleep midpoint after adjustment for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, and marital status. These associations persisted after adjustment for other risk factors. Neighborhood social factors were not associated with sleep efficiency or sleep fragmentation index. A more favorable neighborhood social environment is associated with longer objectively measured sleep duration and earlier sleep timing. Intervening on the neighborhood environment may improve sleep and subsequent health outcomes. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Controlling social stress in virtual reality environments.

PubMed

Hartanto, Dwi; Kampmann, Isabel L; Morina, Nexhmedin; Emmelkamp, Paul G M; Neerincx, Mark A; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

2014-01-01

Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive) between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6) = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6) = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6) = -0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes.

Controlling Social Stress in Virtual Reality Environments

PubMed Central

Hartanto, Dwi; Kampmann, Isabel L.; Morina, Nexhmedin; Emmelkamp, Paul G. M.; Neerincx, Mark A.; Brinkman, Willem-Paul

2014-01-01

Virtual reality exposure therapy has been proposed as a viable alternative in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder. Therapists could benefit from extensive control of anxiety eliciting stimuli during virtual exposure. Two stimuli controls are studied in this study: the social dialogue situation, and the dialogue feedback responses (negative or positive) between a human and a virtual character. In the first study, 16 participants were exposed in three virtual reality scenarios: a neutral virtual world, blind date scenario, and job interview scenario. Results showed a significant difference between the three virtual scenarios in the level of self-reported anxiety and heart rate. In the second study, 24 participants were exposed to a job interview scenario in a virtual environment where the ratio between negative and positive dialogue feedback responses of a virtual character was systematically varied on-the-fly. Results yielded that within a dialogue the more positive dialogue feedback resulted in less self-reported anxiety, lower heart rate, and longer answers, while more negative dialogue feedback of the virtual character resulted in the opposite. The correlations between on the one hand the dialogue stressor ratio and on the other hand the means of SUD score, heart rate and audio length in the eight dialogue conditions showed a strong relationship: r(6) = 0.91, p = 0.002; r(6) = 0.76, p = 0.028 and r(6) = −0.94, p = 0.001 respectively. Furthermore, more anticipatory anxiety reported before exposure was found to coincide with more self-reported anxiety, and shorter answers during the virtual exposure. These results demonstrate that social dialogues in a virtual environment can be effectively manipulated for therapeutic purposes. PMID:24671006

Experiences and Implications of Social Workers Practicing in a Pediatric Hospital Environment Affected by SARS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gearing, Robin Edward; Saini, Michael; McNeill, Ted

2007-01-01

This phenomenological study's purpose was threefold: to detail the experiences of social workers practicing in a hospital environment affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), to describe essential themes and structures of social work practices within this crisis environment, and to explore recommendations for better preparedness to…

Quantifying the physical, social and attitudinal environment of children with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Dickinson, Heather O; Colver, Allan

2011-01-01

To develop an instrument to represent the availability of needed environmental features (EFs) in the physical, social and attitudinal environment of home, school and community for children with cerebral palsy. Following a literature review and qualitative studies, the European Child Environment Questionnaire (ECEQ) was developed to capture whether EFs needed by children with cerebral palsy were available to them: 24, 24 and 12 items related to the physical, social and attitudinal environments, respectively. The ECEQ was administered to parents of 818 children with cerebral palsy aged 8-12 years, in seven European countries. A domain structure was developed using factor analysis. Parents responded to 98% of items. Seven items were omitted from statistical models as the EFs they referred to were available to most children who needed them; two items were omitted as they did not fit well into plausible domains. The final domains, based on 51 items, were: Transport, Physical - home, Physical - community, Physical - school, Social support - home, Social support - community, Attitudes - family and friends, Attitudes - teachers and therapists, Attitudes - classmates. ECEQ was acceptable to parents and can be used to assess both the access children with cerebral palsy have to the EFs that they need and how available individual EFs are.

Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe: Tackling Social and Cultural Inequalities. France

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fallourd, Pierre, Comp.

2008-01-01

This contribution from France is based on recently-published documents and in particular on the "Report on the Public Infancy Service for Early Childhood," published in February 2007 by a department of the Prime Minister's Office, the Centre of Strategic Analysis, Social Affairs Section and "Early Childhood Education and Care, a…

Mixed-Age Grouping in Early Childhood--Creating the Outdoor Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rouse, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Children attending centre-based early childhood care and education programmes across Australia are most likely to be grouped according to age and development. While multi- or mixed-age grouping has been seen to have positive benefits on young children's learning and pro-social behaviours, this approach is not usually adopted in the organisation of…

Social Connectedness and Flourishing: The Mediating Role of Hopelessness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eraslan-Capan, Bahtiyar

2016-01-01

In recent years, positive psychology has focused on flourishing; a combination of social and emotional well-being. For flourishing to function optimally, social environments as well as hopeful future expectation are crucial. It can be inferred that social connectedness and hope might be predictor of flourishing in early adulthood. This study aims…

Predicting externalizing and internalizing behavior in kindergarten: examining the buffering role of early social support.

PubMed

Heberle, Amy E; Krill, Sarah C; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J; Carter, Alice S

2015-01-01

This study tested an ecological model predicting children's behavior problems in kindergarten from risk and protective factors (parent psychological distress, parenting behavior, and social support) during early childhood. Study participants were 1,161 sociodemographically diverse mother-child pairs that participated in a longitudinal birth cohort study. The predictor variables were collected at two separate time points and based on parent reports; children were an average of 2 years old at Time 1 and 3 years old at Time 2. The outcome measures were collected when children reached kindergarten and were 6 years old on average. Our results show that early maternal psychological distress, mediated by suboptimal parenting behavior, predicts children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors in kindergarten. Moreover, early social support buffers the relations between psychological distress and later suboptimal parenting behavior and between suboptimal parenting behavior and later depressive/withdrawn behavior. Our findings have several implications for early intervention and prevention efforts. Of note, informal social support appears to play an important protective role in the development of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, weakening the link between psychological distress and less optimal parenting behavior and between suboptimal parenting behavior and children's withdrawal/depression symptoms. Increasing social support may be a productive goal for family and community-level intervention.

Social, Psychological, And Physical Aspects Of The Work Environment Could Contribute To Hypertension Prevalence.

PubMed

Rehkopf, David H; Modrek, Sepideh; Cantley, Linda F; Cullen, Mark R

2017-02-01

Studies on the physical and social characteristics of the workplace have begun to provide evidence for the role of specific workplace factors on health. However, the overall contribution of the workplace to health has not been considered. Estimates of the influences on health across domains of the work environment are a critical first step toward understanding what level of priority the workplace should take as the target for public policies to improve health. The influences or contribution of these domains on health in the work environment are particularly useful to study since they are potentially modifiable through changes in policies and environment. Our analysis used detailed data from blue-collar industrial workers at two dozen Alcoa plants. It includes work environmental measures of psychological hazards, physical hazards, and the workplace social environment, to estimate the overall importance of the workplace environment for hypertension. Our findings suggest that social, psychological, and physical aspects of the work environment could contribute to a substantial proportion of hypertension prevalence. These attributes of the workplace could thus be a useful target for improving workforce health. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Parental Management of Peer Relationships and Early Adolescents' Social Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mounts, Nina S.

2011-01-01

Despite a growing body of research on parental management of peer relationships, little is known about the relationship between parental management of peers and early adolescents' social skills or the precursors to parental management of peer relationships. The goals of this short-term longitudinal investigation were to examine the relationship…

Early life environment and social determinants of cardiac health in children with congenital heart disease.

PubMed

Wong, Peter; Denburg, Avram; Dave, Malini; Levin, Leo; Morinis, Julia Orkin; Suleman, Shazeen; Wong, Jonathan; Ford-Jones, Elizabeth; Moore, Aideen M

2018-04-01

Congenital heart disease is a significant cause of infant mortality. Epidemiology and social context play a crucial role in conditioning disease burden and modulating outcomes, while diagnosis and treatment remain resource intensive. This review will address the role of social demographics, environmental exposure, epigenetics and nutrition in the aetiology of congenital heart disease. We then discuss the determinant effect of social factors on the provision and outcomes of care for congenital heart disease and implications for practice. It is our hope that enhanced knowledge of the intersection of social determinants of health and congenital heart disease will facilitate effective preventative strategies at the individual and population levels to optimize heart health outcomes across the life course.

Influences of early child nutritional status and home learning environment on child development in Vietnam.

PubMed

Nguyen, Phuong H; DiGirolamo, Ann M; Gonzalez-Casanova, Ines; Young, Melissa; Kim, Nicole; Nguyen, Son; Martorell, Reynaldo; Ramakrishnan, Usha

2018-01-01

Early childhood development plays a key role in a child's future health, educational success, and economic status. However, suboptimal early development remains a global challenge. This study examines the influences of quality of the home learning environment (HOME) and child stunting in the first year of life on child development. We used data collected from a randomized controlled trial of preconceptional micronutrient supplementation in Vietnam (n = 1,458). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development-III were used to assess cognition, language, and motor development domains at 2 years. At 1 year, 14% of children were stunted, and 15%, 58%, and 28% of children lived in poor, medium, and high HOME environments, respectively. In multivariate generalized linear regression models, living in a high HOME environment was significantly associated with higher scores (0.10 to 0.13 SD) in each of the developmental domains. Stunted children scored significantly lower for cognitive, language, and motor development (-0.11 to -0.18), compared to nonstunted children. The negative associations between stunting on development were modified by HOME; the associations were strong among children living in homes with a poor learning environment whereas they were nonsignificant for those living in high-quality learning environments. In conclusion, child stunting the first year of life was negatively associated with child development at 2 years among children in Vietnam, but a high-quality HOME appeared to attenuate these associations. Early interventions aimed at improving early child growth as well as providing a stimulating home environment are critical to ensure optimal child development. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Studying social interactions through immersive virtual environment technology: virtues, pitfalls, and future challenges

PubMed Central

Bombari, Dario; Schmid Mast, Marianne; Canadas, Elena; Bachmann, Manuel

2015-01-01

The goal of the present review is to explain how immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) can be used for the study of social interactions and how the use of virtual humans in immersive virtual environments can advance research and application in many different fields. Researchers studying individual differences in social interactions are typically interested in keeping the behavior and the appearance of the interaction partner constant across participants. With IVET researchers have full control over the interaction partners, can standardize them while still keeping the simulation realistic. Virtual simulations are valid: growing evidence shows that indeed studies conducted with IVET can replicate some well-known findings of social psychology. Moreover, IVET allows researchers to subtly manipulate characteristics of the environment (e.g., visual cues to prime participants) or of the social partner (e.g., his/her race) to investigate their influences on participants’ behavior and cognition. Furthermore, manipulations that would be difficult or impossible in real life (e.g., changing participants’ height) can be easily obtained with IVET. Beside the advantages for theoretical research, we explore the most recent training and clinical applications of IVET, its integration with other technologies (e.g., social sensing) and future challenges for researchers (e.g., making the communication between virtual humans and participants smoother). PMID:26157414

Studying social interactions through immersive virtual environment technology: virtues, pitfalls, and future challenges.

PubMed

Bombari, Dario; Schmid Mast, Marianne; Canadas, Elena; Bachmann, Manuel

2015-01-01

The goal of the present review is to explain how immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) can be used for the study of social interactions and how the use of virtual humans in immersive virtual environments can advance research and application in many different fields. Researchers studying individual differences in social interactions are typically interested in keeping the behavior and the appearance of the interaction partner constant across participants. With IVET researchers have full control over the interaction partners, can standardize them while still keeping the simulation realistic. Virtual simulations are valid: growing evidence shows that indeed studies conducted with IVET can replicate some well-known findings of social psychology. Moreover, IVET allows researchers to subtly manipulate characteristics of the environment (e.g., visual cues to prime participants) or of the social partner (e.g., his/her race) to investigate their influences on participants' behavior and cognition. Furthermore, manipulations that would be difficult or impossible in real life (e.g., changing participants' height) can be easily obtained with IVET. Beside the advantages for theoretical research, we explore the most recent training and clinical applications of IVET, its integration with other technologies (e.g., social sensing) and future challenges for researchers (e.g., making the communication between virtual humans and participants smoother).

New insights into a hot environment for early life.

PubMed

Dai, Jianghong

2017-06-01

Investigating the physical-chemical setting of early life is a challenging task. In this contribution, the author attempted to introduce a provocative concept from cosmology - cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is the residual thermal radiation from a hot early Universe - to the field. For this purpose, the author revisited a recently deduced biomarker, the 1,6-anhydro bond of sugars in bacteria. In vitro, the 1,6-anhydro bond of sugars reflects and captures residual thermal radiation in thermochemical processes and therefore is somewhat analogous to CMB. In vivo, the formation process of the 1,6-anhydro bond of sugars on the peptidoglycan of prokaryotic cell wall is parallel to in vitro processes, suggesting that the 1,6-anhydro bond is an ideal CMB-like analogue that suggests a hot setting for early life. The CMB-like 1,6-anhydro bond is involved in the life cycle of viruses and the metabolism of eukaryotes, underlying this notion. From a novel perspective, the application of the concept of the CMB to microbial ecology may give new insights into a hot environment, such as hydrothermal vents, supporting early life and providing hypotheses to test in molecular palaeontology. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Genetic Interactions with Prenatal Social Environment: Effects on Academic and Behavioral Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, Dalton; Rauscher, Emily

2013-01-01

Numerous studies report gene-environment interactions, suggesting that specific alleles have different effects on social outcomes depending on environment. In all these studies, however, environmental conditions are potentially endogenous to unmeasured genetic characteristics. That is, it could be that the observed interaction effects actually…

Social Negotiations in a Wiki Environment: A Case Study with Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vratulis, Vetta; Dobson, Teresa M.

2008-01-01

Understanding of the nature of social negotiations in social software spaces used in support of formal, face-to-face education remains limited. In this paper, we consider how a community of learners working collaboratively in a wiki environment established social hierarchies and negotiated power. Described is a study with 36 pre-service teachers…

Cross-border marriage and disparities in early childhood development in a population-based birth cohort study: the mediation of the home environment.

PubMed

Wu, J C-L; Bradley, R H; Chiang, T-L

2012-07-01

Taiwan has experienced a large influx of cross-border marriage migrants in recent years. The majority have been women in their childbearing ages and have come from countries with lower average standards of living than Taiwan. This trend has changed the ethnic composition of children who live in Taiwan, and it has generated considerable social concern over the future health status of Taiwan's citizens. This study aimed to examine: (1) whether there are disparities in development between children reared in families characterized by cross-border marriages and children reared in families with two Taiwanese-born parents; and (2) whether the quality of home environment explains the group differences in early childhood development. Data came from the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study. A total of 19,499 participants who completed 6-month, 18-month and 3-year surveys were included for analysis. Cross-border marriage status was defined by mother's original nationality and categorized into three broad groups: Taiwanese-born, Chinese cross-border and South-East Asian (SEA) cross-border. Early childhood development was measured at age 3 years, and covered the domains of gross motor, fine motor, language and socio-emotional competence. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine the mediation effects of the home environment. Children of Chinese and SEA cross-border groups scored lower in fine motor, language and socio-emotional competence than those of their Taiwanese-born counterpart at age 3 years. Chinese-Taiwanese group differences in all three developmental domains became insignificant after the addition of home environment, while SEA-Taiwanese group differences in fine motor and language development remained, yet were noticeably reduced. The mediation of home environment was further confirmed using the Sobel test. Home environment plays a central role in reducing the disparities in developmental outcomes among children of different marriage groups. Interventions should be

Social Investment or Private Profit? Diverging Notions of "Investment" in Early Childhood Education and Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adamson, Elizabeth; Brennan, Deborah

2014-01-01

In recent decades, many OECD countries have adopted the notion of "social investment" to reframe traditional approaches to social welfare. Social investment strategies and policies focus on employment rather than welfare and promote public expenditure on skills and education throughout the life course, starting with early childhood…

Selective attention to signs of success: social dominance and early stage interpersonal perception.

PubMed

Maner, Jon K; DeWall, C Nathan; Gailliot, Matthew T

2008-04-01

Results from two experiments suggest that observers selectively attend to male, but not female, targets displaying signs of social dominance. Participants overestimated the frequency of dominant men in rapidly presented stimulus arrays (Study 1) and visually fixated on dominant men in an eyetracking experiment (Study 2). When viewing female targets, participants attended to signs of physical attractiveness rather than social dominance. Findings fit with evolutionary models of mating, which imply that dominance and physical attractiveness sometimes tend to be prioritized preferentially in judgments of men versus women, respectively. Findings suggest that sex differences in human mating are observed not only at the level of overt mating preferences and choices but also at early stages of interpersonal perception. This research demonstrates the utility of examining early-in-the-stream social cognition through the functionalist lens of adaptive thinking.

Parental Depression, Overreactive Parenting, and Early Childhood Externalizing Problems: Moderation by Social Support.

PubMed

Taraban, Lindsay; Shaw, Daniel S; Leve, Leslie D; Natsuaki, Misaki N; Ganiban, Jody M; Reiss, David; Neiderhiser, Jenae M

2018-02-20

This study used a large (N = 519), longitudinal sample of adoptive families to test overreactive parenting as a mediator of associations between parental depressive symptoms and early childhood externalizing, and parents' social support satisfaction as a moderator. Maternal parenting (18 months) mediated the association between maternal depressive symptoms (9 months) and child externalizing problems (27 months). Paternal parenting was not a significant mediator. Unexpectedly, we found a cross-over effect for the moderating role of social support satisfaction, such that partners' social support satisfaction reduced the strength of the association between each parent's own depressive symptoms and overreactive parenting. Results point to the importance of accounting for broader family context in predicting early childhood parenting and child outcomes. © 2018 The Authors. Child Development © 2018 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

The food environment is a complex social network.

PubMed

Brown, David R; Brewster, Luther G

2015-05-01

The lack of demonstrated impact of the South LA fast food ban suggests that the policy was too narrowly crafted. Healthy food deserts like South LA are simultaneously unhealthy food swamps; and face myriad interrelated social, economic, and environmental challenges. The food environment is a complex social network impacted by social, economic and political factors at the neighborhood, regional, national, and international levels. Banning one subtype of unhealthy food venue is not likely to limit the availability of unhealthy processed and packaged foods nor result in increased access to affordable healthy foods. Food deserts and food insecurity are symptoms of the interacting pathologies of poverty, distressed communities, and unhealthy global macroeconomic and industrial policies. Policies that seek to impact urban health disparities need to tackle root causes including poverty and the global production and distribution of cheap, addictive, unhealthy products that promote unhealthy lifestyles. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beyond naïve cue combination: salience and social cues in early word learning.

PubMed

Yurovsky, Daniel; Frank, Michael C

2017-03-01

Children learn their earliest words through social interaction, but it is unknown how much they rely on social information. Some theories argue that word learning is fundamentally social from its outset, with even the youngest infants understanding intentions and using them to infer a social partner's target of reference. In contrast, other theories argue that early word learning is largely a perceptual process in which young children map words onto salient objects. One way of unifying these accounts is to model word learning as weighted cue combination, in which children attend to many potential cues to reference, but only gradually learn the correct weight to assign each cue. We tested four predictions of this kind of naïve cue combination account, using an eye-tracking paradigm that combines social word teaching and two-alternative forced-choice testing. None of the predictions were supported. We thus propose an alternative unifying account: children are sensitive to social information early, but their ability to gather and deploy this information is constrained by domain-general cognitive processes. Developmental changes in children's use of social cues emerge not from learning the predictive power of social cues, but from the gradual development of attention, memory, and speed of information processing. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Beyond Naïve Cue Combination: Salience and Social Cues in Early Word Learning

PubMed Central

Yurovsky, Daniel

2015-01-01

Children learn their earliest words through social interaction, but it is unknown how much they rely on social information. Some theories argue that word learning is fundamentally social from its outset, with even the youngest infants understanding intentions and using them to infer a social partner’s target of reference. In contrast, other theories argue that early word learning is largely a perceptual process in which young children map words onto salient objects. One way of unifying these accounts is to model word learning as weighted cue-combination, in which children attend to many potential cues to reference, but only gradually learn the correct weight to assign each cue. We tested four predictions of this kind of naïve cue-combination account, using an eye-tracking paradigm that combines social word-teaching and two-alternative forced-choice testing. None of the predictions were supported. We thus propose an alternative unifying account: children are sensitive to social information early, but their ability to gather and deploy this information is constrained by domain-general cognitive processes. Developmental changes in children’s use of social cues emerge not from learning the predictive power of social cues, but from the gradual development of attention, memory, and speed of information processing. PMID:26575408

Early childhood behavioral inhibition, adult psychopathology and the buffering effects of adolescent social networks: a twenty-year prospective study.

PubMed

Frenkel, Tahl I; Fox, Nathan A; Pine, Daniel S; Walker, Olga L; Degnan, Kathryn A; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea

2015-10-01

We examined whether the temperament of behavioral inhibition is a significant marker for psychopathology in early adulthood and whether such risk is buffered by peer social networks. Participants (N = 165) were from a prospective study spanning the first two decades of life. Temperament was characterized during infancy and early childhood. Extent of involvement in peer social networks was measured during adolescence, and psychopathology was assessed in early adulthood. Latent Class Analyses generated comprehensive variables at each of three study time-points. Regressions assessed (a) the direct effect of early behavioral inhibition on adult psychopathology (b) the moderating effect of adolescent involvement in social peer networks on the link between temperamental risk and adult psychopathology. Stable behavioral inhibition in early childhood was negatively associated with adult mental health (R(2 ) = .07, p = .005, β = -.26), specifically increasing risk for adult anxiety disorders (R(2) = .04, p = .037, β = .19). These temperament-pathology relations were significantly moderated by adolescent peer group social involvement and network size (Total R(2) = .13, p = .027, β = -.22). Temperament predicted heightened risk for adult anxiety when adolescent social involvement was low (p = .002, β = .43), but not when adolescent social involvement was high. Stable behavioral inhibition throughout early childhood is a risk factor for adult anxiety disorders and interacts with adolescent social involvement to moderate risk. This is the first study to demonstrate the critical role of adolescent involvement in socially active networks in moderating long-lasting temperamental risk over the course of two decades, thus informing prevention/intervention approaches. © 2015 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Environment-Related Topics in Social Studies Student Materials: A Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Charles B.; Stitely, Thomas B.

1973-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe briefly some impressions of the treatment of the topics: "environment,""ecology,""pollution," and "population" in contemporary social studies materials intended for student use in secondary and elementary school classrooms. (Author)

Social inequalities in childhood are predictors of unemployment in early adulthood.

PubMed

Lander, Flemming; Rasmussen, Kurt; Mortensen, Jens Tølbøll

2012-03-01

The aim of the present study was to establish if social inequalities in early childhood, particularly living in a socially and economically deprived neighbourhood, are predictive of later unemployment. A cohort was established in 1987. It consists of 8-9 year-old children living in a socially deprived suburb who were followed in national registers for all categories of welfare benefits. The follow-up covered the period when participants were 21-27 years of age. A control group with the same age and gender distribution who were living in a neighbouring, relatively privileged middle class district were also followed for the purpose of comparison. The annual unemployment rate during the seven years of follow-up was significantly higher in the deprived neighbourhood group than in the middle class neighbourhood group, whereas long-term unemployment lasting more than two years did not differ significantly between the groups. Childhood background including a mother receiving social benefit was an independent factor associated with increased risk of later unemployment, whereas gender and single parenthood were not. The present findings suggest that socioeconomic disadvantage during childhood substantially increases the risk of unemployment in early adulthood, even during a follow-up period in the first decade of the 21st century when employment opportunities in Denmark were excellent. not relevant. not relevant.

Social stress in early adolescents' daily lives: Associations with affect and loneliness.

PubMed

van Roekel, Eeske; Ha, Thao; Verhagen, Maaike; Kuntsche, Emmanuel; Scholte, Ron H J; Engels, Rutger C M E

2015-12-01

Adolescence is characterized by increased social stress due to changes in interpersonal relationships, but little is known about daily experiences of social stress. The aim of the present study was to examine daily life predictors of increases in social stress, how these increases affected adolescents' mood, and whether loneliness moderated these relations. The Experience Sampling Method was used to measure positive and negative affect and increases in social stress in 278 early adolescents from the Netherlands. Results showed that adolescents were most likely to experience increases in social stress when they were with classmates, during week days, and in the morning. Lonely adolescents showed higher increases in social stress and responded more negatively to increases in social stress, compared to non-lonely adolescents. Copyright © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Addressing Social-Emotional Development and Infant Mental Health in Early Childhood Systems. Building State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Series, Number 12

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeanah, Paula D.; Stafford, Brian S.; Nagle, Geoffrey A.; Rice, Thomas

2005-01-01

The science of early development and our understanding of the impact of early experience on later social, emotional, and cognitive development has grown dramatically in the past three decades. Because the data are compelling and far-reaching, there has been increasing interest and concern about the quality of the infant's earliest experiences, and…

Early Warning Signals of Social Transformation: A Case Study from the US Southwest

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Recent research in ecology suggests that generic indicators, referred to as early warning signals (EWS), may occur before significant transformations, both critical and non-critical, in complex systems. Up to this point, research on EWS has largely focused on simple models and controlled experiments in ecology and climate science. When humans are considered in these arenas they are invariably seen as external sources of disturbance or management. In this article we explore ways to include societal components of socio-ecological systems directly in EWS analysis. Given the growing archaeological literature on ‘collapses,’ or transformations, in social systems, we investigate whether any early warning signals are apparent in the archaeological records of the build-up to two contemporaneous cases of social transformation in the prehistoric US Southwest, Mesa Verde and Zuni. The social transformations in these two cases differ in scope and severity, thus allowing us to explore the contexts under which warning signals may (or may not) emerge. In both cases our results show increasing variance in settlement size before the transformation, but increasing variance in social institutions only before the critical transformation in Mesa Verde. In the Zuni case, social institutions appear to have managed the process of significant social change. We conclude that variance is of broad relevance in anticipating social change, and the capacity of social institutions to mitigate transformation is critical to consider in EWS research on socio-ecological systems. PMID:27706200

Early Warning Signals of Social Transformation: A Case Study from the US Southwest.

PubMed

Spielmann, Katherine A; Peeples, Matthew A; Glowacki, Donna M; Dugmore, Andrew

2016-01-01

Recent research in ecology suggests that generic indicators, referred to as early warning signals (EWS), may occur before significant transformations, both critical and non-critical, in complex systems. Up to this point, research on EWS has largely focused on simple models and controlled experiments in ecology and climate science. When humans are considered in these arenas they are invariably seen as external sources of disturbance or management. In this article we explore ways to include societal components of socio-ecological systems directly in EWS analysis. Given the growing archaeological literature on 'collapses,' or transformations, in social systems, we investigate whether any early warning signals are apparent in the archaeological records of the build-up to two contemporaneous cases of social transformation in the prehistoric US Southwest, Mesa Verde and Zuni. The social transformations in these two cases differ in scope and severity, thus allowing us to explore the contexts under which warning signals may (or may not) emerge. In both cases our results show increasing variance in settlement size before the transformation, but increasing variance in social institutions only before the critical transformation in Mesa Verde. In the Zuni case, social institutions appear to have managed the process of significant social change. We conclude that variance is of broad relevance in anticipating social change, and the capacity of social institutions to mitigate transformation is critical to consider in EWS research on socio-ecological systems.

Compete, coordinate, and cooperate: How to exploit uncertain environments with social interaction.

PubMed

Schulze, Christin; Newell, Ben R

2015-10-01

Countless decisions, from the trivial to the crucial, are made in complex social contexts while facing uncertain consequences. Yet a large portion of decision making research focuses on either the effects of social interaction or the effects of environmental uncertainty by examining strategic games against others or individual games against nature. Drawing a connection between these approaches, the authors extend a standard individual choice paradigm to include social interaction with 1 other person. In this paradigm, 2 competing decision makers repeatedly select among 2 options, each offering a particular probability of a fixed payoff. When both players choose the same, correct option, the payoff is evenly split; when they choose different options, the player choosing the correct option receives the full payoff. The addition of this social dimension gives players an opportunity to fully exploit an uncertain environment via cooperation: By consistently choosing opposite options, two players can exploit the uncertain environment more effectively than a single player could. We present 2 experiments that manipulate environmental (Experiment 1) and social (Experiment 2) aspects of the paradigm. In Experiment 1, the outcome probabilities were either known or unknown to participants; in Experiment 2, participants' attention was drawn to individual or group gains by introducing either within- or between-group competition. Efficient cooperation did not emerge spontaneously in Experiment 1. Instead, most people probability maximized, mirroring the behavior observed in individual choice. By contrast, between--group competition in Experiment 2 facilitated efficient-but not always equitable--exploitation of uncertain environments. This work links the concepts of individual risky choice and strategic decision making under both environmental and social uncertainty. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Design guidelines for interactive multimedia learning environments to promote social inclusion.

PubMed

Brown, D J; Powell, H M; Battersby, S; Lewis, J; Shopland, N; Yazdanparast, M

There is a continuing need for guidelines to aid in the design of Interactive Multimedia Learning Environments (IMLE) to promote effective learning. The project introduced in this paper looks at an important subset of this problem, the design of interactive learning environments to promote social inclusion. A consortium of six partners contributed toward defining learning material to develop a range of work based skills, including horticulture, IT and catering. These were then developed into IMLE prototypes. Formative evaluation of these prototypes then revealed a range of usability problems, which were grouped into generic types and frequency of occurrence. The most important and frequently occurring problems were used to distil a set of design guidelines for the development of effective IMLE. The results from this usability content analysis were also used to refine the initial prototypes to improve their usability and effectiveness. These guidelines, termed the Greenhat Design Guidelines, can be adopted for use by all multimedia developers aiming to promote the social inclusion of vulnerable or socially disadvantaged groups of people. The refined IMLE can be accessed via the Greenhat Server to improve the employment-related skills of socially excluded people.

Stable Early Maternal Report of Behavioral Inhibition Predicts Lifetime Social Anxiety Disorder in Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Degnan, Kathryn Amey; Pine, Daniel S.; Perez-Edgar, Koraly; Henderson, Heather A.; Diaz, Yamalis; Raggi, Veronica L.; Fox, Nathan A.

2009-01-01

The odds of a lifetime diagnosis of social anxiety disorder increased by 3.79 times for children who had a stable report of behavioral inhibition from their mothers. This finding has important implications for the early identification and prevention of social anxiety disorder.

Long-term fitness consequences of early environment in a long-lived ungulate

PubMed Central

Festa-Bianchet, Marco; Pelletier, Fanie

2017-01-01

Cohort effects can be a major source of heterogeneity and play an important role in population dynamics. Silver-spoon effects, when environmental quality at birth improves future performance regardless of the adult environment, can induce strong lagged responses on population growth. Alternatively, the external predictive adaptive response (PAR) hypothesis predicts that organisms will adjust their developmental trajectory and physiology during early life in anticipation of expected adult conditions but has rarely been assessed in wild species. We used over 40 years of detailed individual monitoring of bighorn ewes (Ovis canadensis) to quantify long-term cohort effects on survival and reproduction. We then tested both the silver-spoon and the PAR hypotheses. Cohort effects involved a strong interaction between birth and current environments: reproduction and survival were lowest for ewes that were born and lived at high population densities. This interaction, however, does not support the PAR hypothesis because individuals with matching high-density birth and adult environments had reduced fitness. Instead, individuals born at high density had overall lower lifetime fitness suggesting a silver-spoon effect. Early-life conditions can induce long-term changes in fitness components, and their effects on cohort fitness vary according to adult environment. PMID:28424347

An Early Years Toolbox for Assessing Early Executive Function, Language, Self-Regulation, and Social Development: Validity, Reliability, and Preliminary Norms

PubMed Central

Howard, Steven J.; Melhuish, Edward

2016-01-01

Several methods of assessing executive function (EF), self-regulation, language development, and social development in young children have been developed over previous decades. Yet new technologies make available methods of assessment not previously considered. In resolving conceptual and pragmatic limitations of existing tools, the Early Years Toolbox (EYT) offers substantial advantages for early assessment of language, EF, self-regulation, and social development. In the current study, results of our large-scale administration of this toolbox to 1,764 preschool and early primary school students indicated very good reliability, convergent validity with existing measures, and developmental sensitivity. Results were also suggestive of better capture of children’s emerging abilities relative to comparison measures. Preliminary norms are presented, showing a clear developmental trajectory across half-year age groups. The accessibility of the EYT, as well as its advantages over existing measures, offers considerably enhanced opportunities for objective measurement of young children’s abilities to enable research and educational applications. PMID:28503022

Parents of Children with Asperger Syndrome or with Learning Disabilities: Family Environment and Social Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heiman, Tali; Berger, Ornit

2008-01-01

The study examined the family environment and perceived social support of 33 parents with a child diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and 43 parents with a child with learning disability, which were compared to 45 parents of children without disabilities as a control group. Parents completed the Family Environment Scale and Social Support Scale…