Parental reports of children’s biological knowledge and misconceptions

Parents' Anticipated Discussions About Death With Young Children

Guided by family communication patterns theory and terror management theory this mixed-methods investigation explored how parents (N = 112) of young children (ages 3-6) described the way they would discuss death when it comes up in conversations. Responses were coded inductively, resulting in four themes: explanations that death is inevitable, explanations that death is in the distance, the use of religion to frame discussions of death, and finally, discussing afterlife connections to deceased family members. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate whether parents' conformity or conversation orientations were associated with the frequency with which parents discussed death with their child and the content of parent vignette responses. Quantitative analysis revealed parents' conversation orientations were associated with the frequency with which they discussed death with their child and conformity orientations were associated with parents' use of religion and discussing afterlife connections to deceased family members in their responses.

Young children's ability to make predictions about novel illnesses

Understanding disease transmission is a complex problem highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These studies test whether 3- to 6-year-old children in the United States use information about social interactions to predict disease transmission. Before and during COVID-19, children predicted illness would spread through close interactions. Older children outperformed younger children with no associations between task performance and pandemic experience. Children did not predict that being hungry or tired would similarly spread through close interactions. Participants include 196 three- to six-year-olds (53% girls, 47% boys; 68% White, 9% Black, 7% Asian, 6% Hispanic or Latinx), with medium-sized effects (d = .6, η p 2  = .3). These findings suggest that thinking about social interaction supports young children's predictions about illness, with noted limitations regarding children's real-world avoidance of disease-spreading behaviors.

"When will it be over?" U.S. children's questions and parents' responses about the COVID-19 pandemic

Parent-child conversations are important for children's cognitive development, children's ability to cope with stressful events, and can shape children's beliefs about the causes of illness. In the context of a global pandemic, families have faced a multitude of challenges, including changes to their routines, that they need to convey to their children. Thus, parent-child conversations about the coronavirus pandemic might convey information about the causes of illness, but also about how and why it is necessary for children to modify their behaviors to comply with new social norms and medical guidance. The main goal of this study was to examine the questions children ask about the COVID-19 pandemic and how parents answer them. This survey included responses from a national sample of 349 predominantly white parents of children between the ages of 3 and 12 recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk in United States. Parents reported that although children asked about COVID-19 and its causes (17.3%), children asked primarily about lifestyle changes that occurred as a result of the pandemic (24.0%) and safety (18.4%). Parents reported answering these questions by emphasizing that the purpose of different preventative measures was to protect the child (11.8%) or the family (42.7%) and providing reassurance (13.3%). Many parents discussed how it was their social responsibility to slow the spread of the virus (38.4%). Parents of younger children tended to shield them from information about COVID-19 (p = .038), while parents with more knowledge were more likely to provide explanations (p < .001). Our analysis shows that families not only discuss information about the virus but also information about changes to their lifestyle, preventative measures, and social norms.

Talking With Children About Prognosis: The Decisions and Experiences of Mothers With Metastatic Cancer

PURPOSE

Parents with metastatic cancer report unique concerns and challenges when discussing their illness with their minor children. Greater understanding of parents' communication experiences can facilitate these discussions. This study aimed to describe the challenges, approaches, and decisions related to discussing prognosis among a sample of mothers with metastatic cancer.

METHODS

We conducted a web-based cross-sectional survey assessing the psychosocial concerns of 224 women with metastatic cancer who had minor children. This analysis focused on participant responses to structured and open-ended questions addressing communication with their children. We used descriptive statistics to summarize responses to the structured questions and qualitative content analysis for responses to open-ended questions.

RESULTS

Nearly 80% (n = 176) reported they had discussed their prognosis with at least one of their children; 79% identified at least one barrier to these discussions. The most common obstacles were participants' uncertainty about their illness trajectory (43%) and emotional distress associated with these conversations (41%). Qualitative analyses revealed three principles that guided mothers' communication decisions: commitment to honesty and protection; child developmental readiness; and beliefs about the right time. Approaches to discussing prognosis included total honesty, using the language of chronic illness, gradual disclosure, waiting for questions, and emphasizing hope, love, and reassurance.

CONCLUSION

This study provides further evidence of the complexity and challenges of parental communication with their children about metastatic cancer. There is a need for both clinicians and researchers to identify, test, and implement evidence-based strategies to assist ill parents with their communication concerns.

The Influence of Gender Categories and Gender Stereotypes on Young Children's Generalizations of Biological and Behavioral Characteristics

We examined the influence of categorization and stereotyping on young children's (N = 96; 39 to 71 months of age) use of gender to make generalizations regarding novel biological and behavioral characteristics. Participants were asked to sort pictures of children according to either gender, common gender stereotypes, or shirt color. Then participants performed a triad inductive reasoning task. Children in the Stereotype condition consistently generalized on the basis of gender, but performance was inconsistent in the absence of stereotyping. Results are discussed in relation to variability in early gender cognition.

Children's fears 2-13 months after sibling NICU/PICU/emergency department death

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Sibling loss can heighten children's fears. Approximately two million children in the United States experience the death of a sibling each year, leaving 25% of them in need of clinical intervention and more than 50% with significant behavioral problems. Fear, guilt, anxiety, and even distance from parents are some of the reactions that children feel after experiencing the loss of a sibling. The purpose of this study was to describe children's fears 2-13 months after their sibling's death. Fears were examined by children's age, gender, race/ethnicity, and time.

METHODS

Children completed two open-ended questions about fears and five fear items on the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale. The sample consisted of 132 children.

RESULTS

Children's top fears across age, gender, and race/ethnicity were daily situations (such as darkness, high places, and violent situations), bugs, animals, and medical examinations. Girls had more total fears than boys. These included fears of bugs and situations with parents and siblings. Boys and Hispanic children had more fears of daily situations. Black children had more fears of animals, whereas White children had more fears of bugs and medical examinations.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Children identify many fears after sibling death, including but not limited to fantasy creatures, common daily situations, bugs, animals, and medical examinations likely related to their sibling's death. Identifying children's fears early can help nurse practitioners assist families in better understanding and responding to children's behavior after sibling death.

Sources of children's knowledge about death and dying

In the last century, decreases in infant and child mortality, urbanization and increases in healthcare efficacy have reduced children's personal exposure to death and dying. So how do children acquire accurate conceptions of death in this context? In this paper, we discuss three sources of children's learning about death and dying, namely, direct experience of death, parental communication about death and portrayals of death in the media and the arts. We conclude with recommendations about how best to teach modern children about this aspect of life.This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals'.

The silencing effects of the childhood innocence ideal: the perceptions and practices of fathers in educating their children about sexuality

This study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore eight fathers' perceptions and practices in talking to their ten year old children about puberty, relationships and reproduction. The fathers participated in face to face interviews which were analysed idiographically initially, followed by analysis at the group level. Interpretations were then developed through critical application of a Foucauldian lens of governmentality and biopower. The results revealed a tension between the fathers' cognitions, accounts and behaviours. Their practices were largely characterised by silence yet they reported positive attitudes towards children's sexuality education and perceived themselves as equipped and willing to take on the role of sexuality educator. They also reported enjoying open relationships with their children. Interpretations centred on contradictions and conflict between the majority of the fathers' aspirations and the compelling nature of the childhood innocence discourse as a technology of governmentality. Whilst all of the fathers felt that it was in their children's interests to learn about sexuality, all but one adhered to hegemonic protective discourses and unquestioningly integrated their normalising effects into their fathering practices which, it is argued, may paradoxically render their children more vulnerable both now and in the future.

Social and experiential influences on the development of inheritance concepts

This study explored social and experiential differences in children's (aged 4 to 14 years) concepts of inheritance. The study utilized semi-structured interviews including four tasks that were designed to elicit judgements and explanations about different aspects of inheritance understanding. A variety of social and experiential factors were examined including, gender of participant, family composition, pet ownership, socio-economic status and urban/rural locale. The results indicated strong developmental changes and several social and environmental variations in children's knowledge of inheritance. Children from rural areas and from a higher socio-economic group showed a more sophisticated understanding of inheritance. Other variables including gender, owning a pet and having siblings had less impact on children's understanding of inheritance. Overall, children showed small variations in their inheritance concepts based on differences in experience and background. The precise causes of these differences remains an issue for future research.

Dealing With the Concepts of “Grief” and “Grieving” in the Classroom: Children’s Perceptions, Emotions, and Behavior

This article presents an action research study that explores how a fifth-grade classroom of 10- to 11-year-old children in Cyprus perceive the concepts of grief and grieving, after an educational intervention provided space for discussing such issues. It also explores the impact that the intervention program had on children’s emotions while exploring these concepts and illustrates how it affected their behavior. The findings suggest that the intervention had a constructive impact on children’s understandings of grief and grieving along two important dimensions. First, the intervention helped children better define emotional responses to loss (grief). Second, children seemed to overcome their anxiety while talking about grief and grieving and were able to share relevant personal experiences. The study has important implications for curriculum development, pedagogical practice, and teacher training on death education.

Daily animal exposure and children's biological concepts

A large body of research has focused on the developmental trajectory of children's acquisition of a theoretically coherent naive biology. However, considerably less work has focused on how specific daily experiences shape the development of children's knowledge about living things. In the current research, we investigated one common experience that might contribute to biological knowledge development during early childhood-pet ownership. In Study 1, we investigated how children interact with pets by observing 24 preschool-aged children with their pet cats or dogs and asking parents about their children's daily involvement with the pets. We found that most of young children's observed and reported interactions with their pets are reciprocal social interactions. In Study 2, we tested whether children who have daily social experiences with animals are more likely to attribute biological properties to animals than children without pets. Both 3- and 5-year-olds with pets were more likely to attribute biological properties to animals than those without pets. Similarly, both older and younger children with pets showed less anthropocentric patterns of extension of novel biological information. The results suggest that having pets may facilitate the development of a more sophisticated, human-inclusive representation of animals.

Gravity, God and ghosts? Parents’ beliefs in science, religion, and the paranormal and the encouragement of beliefs in their children

Using a questionnaire, the present study examined parents’ beliefs regarding the development of children’s beliefs about science, religion, and the paranormal. The study also investigated parental encouragement of children’s beliefs, as well as parents’ own beliefs within these domains. Results revealed that parents make distinctions between domains in terms of (a) the importance and timing of beliefs in children’s lives, (b) their own beliefs, and (c) what they encourage their children to believe. The results also indicated that parents’ beliefs were often consistent with the beliefs, they encouraged in their children. These findings suggest that parental beliefs provide an important contextual background for children’s development.

When food is neither good nor bad: children's evaluations of transformed and combined food products

This study examined children's subjective perceptions of 'good' and 'bad' foods. Four interactive focus groups were conducted with 27 children aged 5-9 in South Australia. Each focus group was engaged in a food picture sorting activity. Whilst most children were able to discriminate good and bad whole foods or ingredients, they were less able to agree at a group level on the categorization of combined and transformed food products with which they are most likely to be presented in their 'everyday' lives. We discuss this confusion using Mary Douglas's (1966) theory of 'matter out of place'. Accordingly, health promotion messages should cultivate the skills required to reconcile the co-presence of 'good' and 'bad' ingredients in one product or meal.

The role of external sources of information in children's evaluative food categories

Evaluative food categories are value-laden assessments which reflect the healthfulness and palatability of foods (e.g., healthy/unhealthy, yummy/yucky). In a series of three studies, this research examines how 3- to 4-year-old children (N = 147) form evaluative food categories based on input from external sources of information. The results indicate that children prefer to ask a mom and teacher over a cartoon and child for information about the evaluative status of foods. However, children are cautious to accept information about healthy foods from all of the external sources compared to unhealthy, yummy, and yucky foods. The results also indicate that providing information about the positive taste of healthy foods helps to encourage children to select healthy foods to eat. Taken together, these results have potential implications for children's health and nutrition education.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away: Children's evaluative categories of food

This study explores how children evaluatively categorize foods based on their nutritional value. Three-year-olds, four-year-olds, seven-year-olds, and adults completed a task in which they categorized a list of 70 foods as healthy or junky. The results showed important developmental differences in participants' ability to accurately classify foods as healthy/junky and to provide relevant justifications for these classifications. These results suggest that a large amount of category learning occurs with development, especially as children incorporate different types of information about food nutrition into their evaluative category representations.