Home-packed lunches include more vegetables if children help, study finds
URBANA, Ill. — Nearly half of the home-packed lunches that children brought to school each day rarely or never included vegetables, a University of Illinois researcher found in a new study of families in California.
However, the number of vegetables in kids’ lunches increased if they participated in deciding what foods to pack, said Carolyn Sutter, a postdoctoral research associate with the U. of I.’s Family Resiliency Center and the lead author of the study.
ACES PhD student LaKisha David facilitating monumental reunions of ancestral families separated during the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The following are reflections from LaKisha David, a PhD student in Human Development and Family Studies, on her research project, which was partially funded by an ACES International Graduate Grant: “Northern Ghana Family Reunification Project.” LaKisha's advisor is Dr. Christy Lleras.
Fellowship enables Ph.D. student to pursue non-traditional career path and meet high expectations
As an only child, expectations were set high for Cagla Giray’s future career. Giray is from Ankara, Turkey, where her parents are professors at Lokman Hekim University.
Giray’s college career started at Bilkent University, where she received her bachelor’s in psychology. “During my undergraduate, the emphasis was on either clinical or cognitive psychology practices and I couldn’t envision myself as a clinical psychologist,” Giray says.
A mother’s support helps children learn to regulate negative emotions, but what happens when mom gets distressed?
Handling a poorly timed tantrum from a toddler-such as in the middle of the grocery store-is never an easy task. It could serve as a teachable moment for a mom to help her child learn to manage his own emotions. After all, research shows that how parents react in these types of situations can play an important role in a child's emotional development.
But how does that child's negative behavior-that tantrum in the frozen food aisle-affect a mother's own stress level, and therefore, her ability to parent?
U. of I. study: As siblings learn how to resolve conflict, parents pick up a few tips of their own
When children participated in a program designed to reduce sibling conflict, both parents benefited from a lessening of hostilities on the home front. But mothers experienced a more direct reward. As they viewed the children's sessions in real time on a video monitor and coached the kids at home to respond as they'd been taught, moms found that, like their kids, they were better able to manage their own emotions during stressful moments.
Kids with strong bonds to parents make better friends, can adapt in difficult relationships
What social skills does a three-year-old bring to interactions with a new peer partner? If he has strong bonds to his parents, the child is likely to be a positive, responsive playmate, and he'll be able to adapt to a difficult peer by asserting his needs, according to a new University of Illinois study published in Developmental Psychology.
Good marriage can buffer effects of dad's depression on young children
What effect does a father's depression have on his young son or daughter? When fathers report a high level of emotional intimacy in their marriage, their children benefit, said a University of Illinois study.
"When a parent is interacting with their child, they need to be able to attend to the child's emotional state, be cued in to his developmental stage and abilities, and notice whether he is getting frustrated or needs help. Depressed parents have more difficulty doing that," said Nancy McElwain, a U of I professor of human development.
U. of I. study: Teachers may need training to respond to children's emotions
Teachers learn a lot about how to teach curriculum in college, but they don't get much training in helping very young children learn to handle frustration, anger, and excitement, skills that kids need for kindergarten readiness, said Nancy McElwain, a University of Illinois professor of human development and family studies who conducted a study on the topic.
Boy toddlers need extra help dealing with negative emotions
The way you react to your two-year-old's temper tantrums or clinginess may lead to anxiety, withdrawal and behavior problems down the road, and the effect is more pronounced if the child is a boy who often displays such negative emotions as anger and social fearfulness, reports a new University of Illinois study.
U. of I. study: When children are upset, mothers and fathers make a difference
When a young child experiences negative emotions--anger, anxiety, or distress--can his parents respond in a way that fosters the child's emotional development?
A new University of Illinois study in the September/October issue of Child Development suggests that young children benefit when mothers and fathers differ in their reactions to their child's negative emotions.