• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.87-104
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• 2002

This study investigated developmental levels and explored play behaviors in 194 4- and 5-year-old children from low-income families attending 18 daycare centers in Seoul. The Developmental Test for Korean Kindergartners(Korea Institute Curriculum & Evaluation, 1996) was used to assess developmental levels in seven areas. Play behaviors were observed during free-play in their classrooms. Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA and $x^2$. Results were that the children from low-income families showed highest scores in motor skill development and the lowest scores in mathematical and scientific development. The children engaged most frequently in group-functional play, followed by onlooker behaviors, group-dramatic, and group-constructive play. Onlooker behaviors were the most frequent activity of the 4-year-olds, and the block corner was the most frequently used area during free-play.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.679-688
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• 2011

Using data from an ongoing study of 170 children aged 4-6 years in low-income families, this study tests how mothers' parenting behaviors and teacher-child relationship influences the adjustment to child-care centers of young children. The mothers' parenting behaviors were measured by the mothers of surveyed children, while the teacher-child relationship and children's adjustment were rated by teachers. Measurements were recorded from using the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory(Crase et al. 1987), Student-Teacher Relationship Scale(Pianta et al. 1995) and the Adjustment to Child-care Centers Scale(Lee 2004). The collected data was analyzed by hierarchical regression using the SPSS Program. Results indicate that mothers' parenting behaviors in the low-income families controlled characteristics of children and are positively associated with one area of early school adjustment, learning readiness. In other words, mothers who are more involved and demonstrate supportive parenting, have children with better learning readiness. The teacher-child relationship is strongly related to all areas of children's adjustment. The interaction effect of parenting behaviors and the teacher-child relationship on children's learning readiness is observed. These results highlight the importance of the teacher-child closeness as well as the quality of parenting behaviors during the preschool period for the low-income family in improving early school adjustment.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.278-287
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Diet plays an important role in growth and development of children. However, dietary intakes of children living in either rural or urban areas can be influenced by household income. This cross-sectional study examined energy, nutrient and food group intakes of 749 urban children (1-10 years old) by household income status. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Children's dietary intakes were obtained using food recall and record for two days. Diet adequacy was assessed based on recommended intakes of energy and nutrients and food group servings. RESULTS: For toddlers, all nutrients except dietary fiber (5.5 g) exceeded recommended intakes. Among older children (preschoolers and school children), calcium (548 mg, 435 mg) and dietary fiber (7.4 g, 9.4 g) did not meet recommendations while percentage of energy from total fat and saturated fats exceeded 30% and 10%, respectively. The mean sodium intakes of preschoolers (1,684 mg) and school children (2,000 mg) were relatively high. Toddlers in all income groups had similar energy and nutrient intakes and percentages meeting the recommended intakes. However, low income older children had lowest intakes of energy (P < 0.05) and most nutrients (P < 0.05) and highest proportions that did not meet recommended energy and nutrient intakes. For all food groups, except milk and dairy products, all age groups had mean intakes below the recommended servings. Compared to middle and high income groups, low income preschoolers had the lowest mean intake of fruits (0.07 serving), meat/poultry (0.78 serving) and milk/dairy products (1.14 serving) while low income toddlers and school children had the least mean intake of fruits (0.09 serving) and milk/dairy products (0.54 serving), respectively. CONCLUSION: Low socioeconomic status, as indicated by low household income, could limit access to adequate diets, particularly for older children. Parents and caregivers may need dietary guidance to ensure adequate quantity and quality of home food supply and foster healthy eating habits in children.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2017

This study investigates the effect of a leadership program to enhance leadership skills in children from low-income families. A total of 45 elementary school students participated in the 52-week leadership program. Five leadership scales, such as goal attainment, paradigm shifting skills, skills to lead others, human relationship skills, and sense of purpose, were measured through survey questionnaires before and after implementing the program. In addition, individual teacher interviews examined the influence of the program on students' leadership skills. This study found that participants showed significant improvement after implementing the program in the three domains of the leadership skills (goal attainment, paradigm shifting skills, and human relationship skills); however, the skills to lead others and sense of purpose did not significantly change. The leadership teachers also stated that the program influenced positively on students' leadership skills; in addition, students' behavioral changes were found by developing relationships with other children as well as contemplating and attempting to find a future dream and vision. The leadership program was effective to enhance leadership skills in children from low-income families. This study can provide the theoretical and practical foundations for the development and implementation of effective leadership programs that meet the needs of children from low-income families.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.405-414
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• 1998

This study was to evaluate the anthropometry, dietary attitudes and the other factors of 201 children in day-care centers according to their parents' income levels. The evaluation was conducted using anthropometric measurements such as height, weight, skinfold thickness, blood pressure, and questionnaire survey which was completed by the children's mothers. The results are summarized as follows: Overall growth of children was normal according to Korean standard. There were no significant differences in anthropometry according to the income levels. The scores of eating habits of children were different significantly according to income levels. That is, the score was the lowest in the low-income group. Children generally prefer one-dish meal or snacks, while the preference levels of kimchi, seasoned vegetable and beans broiled in soysauce were lower than those cf other foods. In the questions to know mothers' nutrition knowledge, we could see that they didn't know well about protein, breast-feeding, weaning and balance in nutrients. Nutrition knowledge score of mothers was significantly lower in the low income group, which shows close relationship with low-score eating habits of their children. The score of nutrition knowledge was affected by the mother's education level. The higher the mother's nutrition knowledge and education level, the better children's eating habits. These findings emphasize the planning and application of nutrition education programs for mothers especially in the low income group.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.31-40
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate low- and middle-income preschoolers' use of contextualized and decontextualized talk. The contextualized and decontextualized talk of 70 five-year-old children were analyzed by children's gender and their socioeconomic status. The participants, as dyads, participated in a peer play session for 10 minutes. The play sessions were videotaped and the videotaped data were transcribed. Each transcript was analyzed according to the modified version of Curenton et al. (2008)'s coding schemes. The results showed that children from middle-income families engaged more in both contextualized and decontextualized talk than children from low-income families. Also, girls from middle-income families engaged in more contextualized-decontextualized talk(psychological states) than girls from low-income families.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.199-212
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• 2008

Relationships between parents' home literacy attitudes in low-income families and children's emergent literacy were studied with 107 children 4- and 5-years of age and their parents. Instruments were Kim and Kwon's (2006) questionnaire about parents' literacy attitudes, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised(Kim et al., 1995) and the Concepts About Print(CAP; Kim & Kim, 2004). Results showed that parents of younger children were positive about reading books; parents of older children were positive about reading instruction. More positive parental feelings about reading and higher frequencies of reading with the child were related to children's higher vocabulary scores. Children's CAP was positively related with amount of parents' reading instruction, home literacy resources, and number of child's books in the home.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.100-106
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• 2008

We examined dietary habits, food intakes, health status, and school and community life of meal skipping children, and investigated factors predicting meal skipping of children. A sample was composed of 944 children in low-income families who were provided with public meal service. The sample was obtained from the Survey of Meal Service for Poor Children conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 2007. Meal skipping was significantly associated with a lower nutrition and health status, and poor school performance of children, as hypothesized. The school age of child, family structure, region, job of caretaker, concern about diet, and the child's visit to welfare center significantly predicted frequency of meal skipping. We suggested a few implications for community practice to reduce meal skipping of children.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.491-504
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• 2007

This study was based on resilience approach to find out elementary first, second, and third year students' differences of social support and problem solving ability defending on their family situation (low-income divorced family or normal family) by comparing their sex and age. In addition, the purpose of this study was to find out the effect of factors (social support, problem behavior, and problem solving ability) of children defending on their family situation and age. Moreover, it was aimed to find out the effect of social support and problem solving ability of low-income divorced family's children on their problem behavior. Subjects were 165 children in elementary school (grade 1, 2, and 3). For this study two groups were used for comparison. First, low-grade elementary school children with low-income divorced parents (N=87), "group D" and second, with low-income non-divorced parents (N=78) "group N". The questionnaire, picture cards, and teacher's report was used to determine social support perception, problem-solving ability, and problem behavior, respectively. Results showed that "Group D" was determined to show regarding social support, problem-solving ability, and problem behaviors worse than "group N". In conclusion, problem behaviors of "group D" were affected by social support and their problem-solving ability.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.305-316
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate how children from low-income families perceived their family strength, ego-resilience and school adjustment. The relative magnitude of effects of family strength, ego-resilience and school adjustment were compared. Data were collected from 217 children in grade 4 through 6 who were attending local child welfare centers located in Seoul, Korea. The key research findings were as follows. Ego-resilience and perceived family strength were related to school adjustment among children in poverty. The relatively greater effect of ego-resilience implied that programs for children in poverty need to focus on developing interpersonal relationship skills or coping strategies designed to enable children from disadvantaged environments to deal with stressful events and to promote their ego-resilience. Additionally, the recovery or enhancement of family strength and ego-resilience will be effective at protecting and solving various adaptive problems that children from low-income families may experience at school.