The goal of this study was to evaluate immediate and delayed effects of a caregiver-implemented picture book intervention to support children's mathematical language and numeracy skills. Eightyfour 3-to 5-year-olds (M age = 4.14) were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 40) or active control (n = 44) conditions. Participants in the intervention condition received three researcher-designed picture books with embedded mathematical language content. The active control group received similar books without mathematical language content. All families were asked to read each book a total of four times over 4 weeks (a total of 12 reading sessions). Children were pretested, posttested, and delayed (8 weeks) posttested on mathematical language and numeracy. The intervention resulted in significant positive effects on mathematical language and numeracy at the posttest. At delayed posttest, the mathematical language effects were not statistically significant, but the numeracy effects persisted. However, when only examining the quantitative language items that aligned with the intervention, the effects of the intervention were significant at both immediate and delayed posttests. Findings suggest picture book interventions can have positive impacts on children's early skills.Educational Impact and Implications Statement Supporting children's mathematical language and numeracy development is important for their success in later mathematics. The findings from this study demonstrate that caregivers reading a set of books with embedded mathematical language to their children over the course of 4 weeks can have strong and persistent effects on children's mathematical language and numeracy skills.

The challenges of transitioning into adolescence may be exacerbated for Latino youth whom, on average, often experience additional unique stressors such as discrimination and poverty. However, self-regulation traits, such as effortful control, could protect youth against the negative effects of stressors. Using a resilience framework, we examined the relations of multicultural stressors on depressive and externalizing problems in Latino youth, and tested if effortful control counteracted these relations. We hypothesized that stressors would positively predict depressive and externalizing problems, but that effortful control would compensate against these risks. Latino families with a fifth-grade child (N ϭ 57, mean age ϭ 10.5, 57.9% female, 83% two-parent) living in the Midwest were recruited utilizing community resources. Data were cross-sectionally analyzed using structural equation modeling in Mplus. Stressors were positively associated with depressive and externalizing problems, whereas effortful control had negative direct effects on maladjustment. Results suggest that effortful control may help counteract contextual risks commonly experienced by Latino youth.

Latino youth and their families have been shown to experience higher levels of stressors than the general population, as well as additional unique stressors such as racism, poverty, acculturation, and discrimination. Chronic or cumulative stress often disrupts physiological systems and can lead to dysregulation in diurnal cortisol responses. This study examined the associations between family stress and cortisol responses in 57 Latino mother-adolescent dyads (N = 114) living in the Midwestern United States. Dyads collected saliva 6 times across two consecutive days and completed a survey. Results from repeated measures mixed-effect analysis found that both mothers and adolescents in the high-stress group had flatter cortisol awakening responses than those in the low-stress group, which indicated disruptions in their diurnal cortisol rhythms. These findings suggest that family stress can potentially influence the diurnal cortisol patterns of early Latino adolescents as well as adults, which may, in turn, lead to future health problems.

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Protein kinase D1 (PKD1) plays a vital role in signal transduction, cell proliferation, membrane trafficking, and cancer; however, the majority of the studies up to date had centered primarily on PKD1 functions in interphase, very little is known about its role during cell division. We previously demonstrated that during mitosis PKD1 is activated and associated with centrosomes, spindles, and midbodies. However, these observations did not address whether PKD1 was associated with mitosis regulation.Accordingly, we used rapidly acting PKD-specific inhibitors to examine the contribution of PKD1 the sequence of events in mitosis. We found that although PKD1 overexpression did not affect mitosis progression, suppression of its catalytic activity by two structurally unrelated inhibitors (kb NB 142-70 and CRT 0066101) induced a significant delay in metaphase to anaphase transition time. PKD1 inhibition during mitosis also produced the appearance of abnormal spindles, defects in chromosome alignment, and segregation as well as apoptosis. Thus, these observations indicate that PKD1 activity is associated with mitosis regulation. K E Y W O R D S cancer, mitosis, PKD1

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ObjectiveThis study examined developmental trajectories of maternal sensitivity across early childhood and explored whether changes in sensitivity were predicted by changes in interparental conflict.BackgroundMaternal sensitivity facilitates healthy child development. Previous research has elucidated the role of interparental conflict as a determinant of sensitivity, but we know little about the trajectory of sensitivity across early childhood and the extent to which interparental conflict over time impacts sensitivity.MethodMothers (n = 78) and their children were visited at the playground four times across early childhood (child age: 3.5 to 5.5 years). Observers reported on maternal sensitivity after each visit. Interparental conflict was self‐reported by mothers twice when their child was approximately 3.5 and 5 years old.ResultsOn average, both conflict and sensitivity showed continuity across early childhood. However, hierarchical linear modeling indicated significant variability in trajectories of change in sensitivity based upon frequency of interparental conflict.ConclusionAlthough interparental conflict was relatively low at both times, mothers reporting increased conflict showed decreased sensitivity as their child aged.ImplicationsFindings underscore the importance of studying mother–child relationships within the larger familial context and provide support for the playground as an ecologically valid context to assess sensitivity.

This study investigated the associations among maternal sensitivity, maternal secure base script co‐construction skills, and children's secure base behavior during early childhood. Maternal sensitivity and children's secure base behavior were assessed in naturalistic settings among 81 mother–child dyads when the children were approximately 3.5 years old. Maternal co‐construction skills were also assessed at that age via a joint mother–child storytelling task. Maternal sensitivity and secure base behavior were assessed again when children (N = 74) were about 5.5 years old. Results indicated that mother sensitivity assessed at the early age was significantly related to maternal co‐construction skills. Maternal co‐constructive skills in turn were also significantly associated with children's secure base behavior both concurrently and longitudinally. Finally, regression analyses indicated both maternal sensitivity, concurrently at each point in time, and co‐construction skills contributed unique and significant information to the prediction of child secure base behavior.