• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.51-72
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to compare the school readiness between children in low-income families and children in non-low-income families. In particular, it examined the influence of family's income levels child's age and gender upon children's school readiness. The subjects were 184 children that were 4~5 years. The collected data were analysed using t-tests, one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, and Scheffe test. The results showed that the school readiness of children from non-low-income families's was higher than children from low-income families. The school readiness was explained significantly by the interaction effect of children's age and gender. However, there was no difference in children's school readiness according to the participation in Dream Start. The findings suggest that the level of income is the key factor in differences of children's school readiness. Finally, the importance of social support of low-income children and development of effective Dream Start programs was discussed.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.257-276
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between child care teachers' emotional intelligence, communicative competence, and job stress. Methods: Four hundred and fifty child care teachers answered questionnaires on three research variables. Data were analyzed by correlation analyses and regression analyses. Results: First, child care teachers' emotional intelligence, i.e. self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, uses of emotion, and regulation of emotion, were negatively related to job stress. Second, child care teachers' emotional intelligence, i.e. self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, uses of emotion, and regulation of emotion, were positively associated with communicative competence. Third, child care teachers' communicative competence was negatively linked to job stress. Lastly, child care teachers' communicative competence partially mediated the relationship between self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, regulation of emotion, and job stress, and child care teachers' communicative competence fully mediated the relationship between uses of emotion and job stress. Conclusion/Implications: This study suggests that high emotional intelligence and effective communication are important in order to reduce child care teachers' job stress.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-71
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• 2024

Objective: This research aims to examine whether the perception of professional competence among childcare teachers impacts the performance of respecting young children's rights, and whether the teacher-parent cooperative relationship mediates this association. Methods: The participants in this research were 220 teachers in Daejeon who assessed the performance of respecting young children's right, the perception of professional competence, and teacher-parent cooperative relationships through an online self-report questionnaire. The data collected in this study were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program. Results: Firstly, the results of examining the impact of the perception of professional competence among childcare teachers and the teacher-parent cooperation relationship on childcare that respects the rights of young children showed that each variable has a statistically significant influence. Secondly, it was found that the perception of professional competence among childcare teachers directly impacts the performance of respecting young children's rights and, indirectly, through the mediating role of teacher-parent cooperative relationships. Conclusion/Implications: To ensure high-quality childcare for young children, it is essential to consider not only professional perception but also the cooperative relationship between teacher and parent.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide basic data to develop appropriate sexual education program for children in day care centers. Methods: The data were collected from 361 day care center teachers using self-report questionnaire. Results: 1) The mean score of the degree of sexual education for children was high at the score of 4.18 (${\pm}0.43$). 2) In the mean score of 3 sub-areas, 'living' area was at the highest at the point of 4.32 (${\pm}0.31$), 'social' area was 4.28 (${\pm}0.46$), and 'physical' area was 3.94 (${\pm}0.55$). 3) There was significant difference in the degree of sexual education requirement according to subject's major (t=-2.586, p=.010). Conclusion: It is necessary to include all items of sexual education for early-childhood children in day care center.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.244-257
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• 2021

The purpose of the present study is to qualitatively explore childcare teachers' attitudes toward gender sensitivity education for early childhood. The study recruited 227 teachers and directors working in childcare centers around the Seoul metropolitan areas. The study utilised the interpretive science paradigm and visual methods for data collection, and thematic analysis examined the attitudes of 227 participants. Gender sensitivity education include gender flexibility and sexual orientation. Most participants showed positive attitudes toward the gender flexibility education. They regarded the gender flexibility as a topic socially accepted, suitable for early childhood development, and easy to implement. They also believed that the gender flexibility education would encourage the individuality of children. On the other hand, 53.3% of participants showed negative attitudes toward tolerance education regarding sexual orientation. Opponents expressed that an issue of sexual orientation did not reach a social consensus. They also worried that the topic is not developmentally appropriate for early childhood, and difficult to teach young children because of insufficient educational materials. At the same time, 40.5% of participants expected Korean society would embrace diverse sexual orientations in the future, and early childhood education would help young children adapted to changing contexts. This study discussed theoretical concepts of gender sensitivity, listened to childcare teachers' voices about education of gender flexibility and sexual orientation, and suggested more appropriate gender sensitivity education for early childhood.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.79-95
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• 2023

Objective: This study examines the relationships among four-year-olds' counting skills, their use of number words, and their mothers' use of number words during mother-child free play. Specifically, we assess whether children's use of number words mediates the relationship between their counting skills and their mothers' use of number words during play. Methods: Forty-two 4-year-old children and their mothers were asked to play freely with a given set of toys at their home for 10 minutes. Children also completed a counting skill test. Frequencies of number word use were calculated for mothers and children from transcriptions of the free play. Results: Children's counting skills, the frequency of their number word use, and their mothers' frequency of number word use were positively correlated with each other. Additionally, the frequency of children's number-word use completely mediated the relationship between their counting skills and their mothers' frequency of number-word use. Conclusion/Implications: The results suggest that children's use of number language may play a crucial role in the provision of number-related language input by parents, based on their children's math skills. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.355-371
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• 2015

This study explored the longitudinal relationships between school life adjustment and the parents' neglect/abuse as perceived by children according to gender. The participants were 5th and 6th grade children and the instruments were parents' neglect/abuse scale and school life adjustment scale. Using Korea Youth Panel data of Child Youth Policy Institute of Korea, 5th and 6th grade data were analyzed. The results were as follows: Neglect/abuse as perceived by children were different according to their gender and grade. Children who had perceived more parents' neglect/abuse were more likely to have difficulty in school life adjustment. The results of this study suggest that the appropriate interventions for the parents' neglect and abuse is needed by showing the stability of the child's perception of the parents' neglect and abuse during the 5th-6th grade.

• Korean Journal of Child Education & Care
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.109-121
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study is developing parents' character competency reinforcement program for the prevention of child abuse based on the critical competencies suggested by Character Education Promotion Act. Methods: For the development of the program, the literature review about child abuse prevention program in domestic and international research was conducted. Also, we conducted focus group interviews with kindergarten (n = 3) and elementary school (n = 4) teachers who experienced abusive parents for grasping their characteristics as a qualitative data collecting strategy. Results: As a result, parents' character competency reinforcement program for the prevention of child abuse was composed of a total of 7 activities; 'Understanding me and child', 'Anger management training for parent', 'Improving effective communication skill with child', 'Practicing two-way communication with child', 'Arts and Culture experience with child', 'Understanding my and child's feelings', 'We need a whole village to raise a child'. This program curriculum can be greatly four parents' character competency parts; self-management competency, communication competency, sensitivity competency, community competency. Conclusion/Implications: The program developed in this research can utilize the basic framework of the program to strengthen parent's toughness ability and it is crucial to develop customized toughness capacity increasing plan according to parent's characteristics It will be essential information.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.63-80
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• 2012

This study examined the relationship among temperament, social support and hope of institutionalized children. A total of 198 children, aged 10 to 13, recruited from 20 institutions in Seoul participated. Demographics, temperament, social support from friends, institution-family and school teacher, and hope were assessed by self-report. Results showed that in bivariate level, temperament and social support were significantly associated with level of hope. However, hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that children's hope was predicted only by age and social support from friends, institution-family and school teacher. That is, temperament was not contributed to predict hope, whilst social support contributed unique variance to the prediction of hope, controlling for age. The more social support the children felt they had, the higher levels of hope they reported. Further analyses revealed that support from friends, institution-family and school teacher were influential factors in explaining hope agency, while support from institution-family and school teacher were influential factors in explaining hope pathway of institutionalized children, controlling for age.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.437-460
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the image perceived by fathers of children with Internet addiction. To achieve the study purpose, we conducted depth interviews with ten fathers of children with Internet addiction who had been diagnosed as At-Risk through a face to face meeting. The reason for choosing face to face interviews was to listen to the subjective stories and descriptions from fathers about the kind of fathers they are, which are felt and experienced in real life. More specifically, we selected the depth-interview methods through structured questions and non-structured questions. The interviews were held for two or three hours through an individual meeting of ten fathers and data were collected in order to conduct a categorical analysis. The figures discovered from fathers of children were divided into four categories; the father figure who is indifferent to the Internet use of his child, the father figure depending only on education through the Internet, the father figure who is in a weaker point than the Internet and the father figure who is addicted to the Internet. Based on the study results, we suggested the desirable behaviors, which may be useful for both fathers and children with Internet addiction as well as a follow-up study.