Cultural influences on children's understanding of the human body and the concept of life

Suicidal ideation and its relationship with mental health reported by different informants among children aged 6-12

BACKGROUND

Suicidal ideation in children has received less attention than in adolescents. This study aimed to explore the self-reported prevalence of suicidal ideation among children aged 6-12 and to identify the relationship between self-reported suicidal ideation and children's mental health reported by different informants in Chinese setting.

METHOD

The study sample was 1479 children aged 6-12 from three elementary schools in Tianjin. Children completed the Dominic Interactive to report their mental health and suicidal ideation. Parents and teachers completed the Socio-Demographic Questionnaire and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

RESULTS

The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and death thoughts was 18.05 % and 16.90 %, respectively. Parent reported emotional symptoms, ADHD and externalized problems were associated with death thoughts, and ADHD was associated with suicidal thoughts. For teacher's reports, emotional symptoms, and impact were associated with death thoughts, and ADHD, peer problems, internalized problems, and internalized and externalized comorbidity were associated with suicidal thoughts. All of the children's self-reported mental health problems were associated with suicidal thoughts and death thoughts.

LIMITATIONS

Causality cannot be inferred in a cross-sectional study.

CONCLUSION

Suicidal ideation is not uncommon in Chinese children. The relationships between mental health problems and suicidal ideation varied in different informants. Suicide prevention in young children should be enhanced, and screening for suicidal ideation is recommended at the onset of different informants who reported specific mental health problems.

Astronomers’ representations of the earth and day / night cycle: Implications for children’s acquisition of scientific concepts

Previous researchers (e.g., Vosniadou and Brewer, Cognitive Psychology 24:535–585, 1992) have claimed that children have naïve, but coherent, mental models of the earth, such as the flat earth and the hollow sphere. Recent studies have challenged this view, focusing on the original researchers’ methods of testing (drawing and open questions) and coding. In this study we tested the construct validity of these methods by asking expert astronomers to complete the same test originally used with 5-year-olds. Many astronomers gave responses that, if given by young children, would have been considered non-scientific and as evidence of naïve mental models. Many gave two or more seemingly contradictory answers to the same questions and, even when only their ‘most scientific’ responses were considered, fewer than 50% of these expert scientists were classified as having coherent scientific mental models. Comparison with children’s responses to a rephrased and disambiguated task indicated that even 6–7-year-olds gave more scientific answers. The astronomers’ comments revealed the main reasons why the original task lacks validity: they found many questions confusing and ambiguous. This may well explain many children’s responses, too. Since the task incorrectly indicates that experts in the field have fundamental misconceptions, it is likely also to have led to substantial underestimates of children’s scientific understanding.