The purpose of this study was to examine successful adaptation of first graders to elementary school by analyzing the relationships among fathers' emotional valuation of children and parenting behaviors and children's school readiness and executive function, and to identify gender differences in the pathways. Methods: Data were drawn from waves 6-8 of the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC). Participants were 987 fathers and their children. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and multiple group analysis with SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 21.0. Results: First, fathers' emotional valuation of children had a significant effect on both warm and controlled parenting behaviors, and parenting behaviors completely mediated the effects between fathers' emotional valuation and children's school readiness and executive function. Furthermore, the results of multiple group analysis revealed that some path weights appeared differently by gender. For boys, fathers' emotional valuation had a significant effect on children's school readiness through warm parenting behaviors; however, there was no effect on executive function. For girls, emotional valuation completely mediated the effects of children's school readiness and executive function through both parenting behaviors. Conclusion: The implications of these findings provide specific, basic information for parent education and instruction regarding the perception and performance of the father's role emphasizing its the importance in the family.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to find out whether four-year-old children differ in their reading responses and story comprehension when reading wordless picture books with their peers in different peer interaction conditions. Methods: The children (N = 115) were from two daycare centers and four kindergartens located in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon. Each child's personal characteristics were controlled by random assignment. After the children had read the picture book assigned for cooperative, competitive and reading alone conditions, their story comprehension was measured. Results: The number of words spoken was greater in the cooperative and competitive conditions than in the reading alone condition. Exploratory, interpretive, constructive and play behaviors were more frequent in the cooperative condition. However negative behavior was more frequent in the competition condition. Story comprehension was higher when children read picture books in cooperation with their peers. Conclusion: The context in which picture books were read was found to affect not only reading responses, but also the story comprehension.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between breastfeeding duration and preschooler problem behavior, focusing on the mediating role of cognitive development. Methods: The data came from the Panel Study on Korean Children. The study sample included 926 participants. The statistical methods for the data analyses included descriptive statistics analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, partial correlation analysis, regression analysis, and the Sobel test. Results: Breastfeeding duration predicted preschooler cognitive development, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems after adjusting for potential confounding factors (i.e., sex, SES, temperament, and parenting style). Further, cognitive development fully mediated the relationship between breastfeeding duration and externalizing problems at age 5 years. Conclusion: The results from the current study support the hypothesis that breastfeeding predicts preschooler cognitive development and problem behavior after adjusting for confounding factors. Further, the relationship between breastfeeding duration and externalizing problems was explained via cognitive development. Based on these results, we recommend the practice of breastfeeding for healthy early childhood development.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a language education program using classical poetry and to verify its effects on aesthetic language expression and Chinese character recognition in young Chinese children. Methods: In this study, 98 four-year-olds from two kindergartens in Guangzhou, China, were divided into an experimental group and control group. They participated in a total of 16 language program sessions of 30 minutes. The effectiveness of the language education program, using classic poetry was explored through a mixed study method. Covariance analysis, speech analysis and FGI were performed to examine the effects of this program on the children's aesthetic language expression and Chinese character recognition of children. Results: First, the language education program using classical poetry, significantly improved participants' aesthetic expression. They attempted to imagine, express themselves using their own experiences, and carefully read the main character's feelings. Second, the program had a significant effect on the children's Chinese character recognition. After the program, they began to exhibit distinct character traits in their name writing. Conclusion: Children's language ability grows when they engage in natural language activities using classical poetry that reflects culture, rather than pouring over or memorizing it.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether children's evaluation of information provided by an informant differs depending on the intuitiveness of the information provided, the presence of and types of additional explanations, and the age of the child. Methods: The participants were 158 children, aged 4 to 5 years, from eight childcare centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Each child was interviewed individually, after completing a pre-test for measures of language comprehension. Results: First, when the informant provided information on physical and biological phenomena, children were more likely to evaluate intuitive information as plausible, compared to counterintuitive information. In addition, 5-year-olds were less likely than 4-year-olds to evaluate counterintuitive information as plausible. Second, after an explanation was added, children were more likely to evaluate counterintuitive information as plausible, when this explanation was causal rather than descriptive or circular. Third, the addition of an explanation was likely to result in the evaluation of intuitive information as less plausible, and counterintuitive information as more plausible. Conclusion: Based on children's evaluation of information about physical and biological phenomena presented to them, this study confirmed that 4-and 5-year-old children were able to independently evaluate the plausibility of information, depending on the intuitiveness of the information, and the presence of and types of explanations. It also revealed that with increasing age, children become more skeptical about the plausibility of counterintuitive information, and demonstrated epistemic vigilance even when presented with intuitive information with an explanation.