Miki Kakinuma

BACKGROUND: Determining when caregivers should take their children to a hospital is crucial in ensuring the health and safety of children. Because children cannot make these decisions on their own, caregivers bear the core responsibility for the wellness of their children. The aim of this study was to determine how disease, disability, and child behavior affect when and how often caregivers take their children to a hospital. METHODS: A structured anonymous online survey was circulated to pediatricians in Japan. Pediatricians were queried about the characteristics of their patients, including reactivity to pain, expression of pain, behavior at the hospital, and the timing of presentation. Patients were school-aged children and included those with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down syndrome, mental retardation, epilepsy, premature birth, and allergies. RESULTS: Sixty-eight of 80 pediatricians responded to the survey (85% response rate). The results indicated that caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and mental retardation took them to the hospital later than was optimal. Conversely, children born prematurely and those with allergies were taken to hospitals even when symptoms were mild. CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers make decisions on when to present to hospital on the basis of their child's expression of pain and behavior. Guidelines should be developed to assist caregivers in determining when to present for treatment at a hospital.

This paper reviews a series of studies describing differences in narratives and finger-pointing in mother-child interactions,when drawing pictures are shown to autistic spectrum disorder（ASD） children and typically developing（TD）children from different cultures.Eye gaze movements of children（obtained by a Tobii eye tracker） using the same drawings are also compared.The results showed that mothers were responsible for the initiatives and children were responsive for the interactions, regardless of what kinds of factors the children had.ASD children were intermittent in gaze movement and spent less time gazing at the target persons and/or objects,suggesting that their visual information processing is different from TD children.Cultural and regional differences were also observed between Japan,China and the United States,as well as within Japan（Tokyo,Yamagata and Okinawa）.Individual differences in narratives and non-verbal behaviors were thought to reflect the differences in information processing strategies and countermeasures in social situations.These observed differences are formed both by neurological and cultural-environmental factors.This review suggests that we should look at how individual differences（whether they are based on cultural or neurological factors） are formed,tounderstand each individual.In a diverse society,we need to focus on background factors and look at their characteristics and development from a universal perspective.

A longitudinal study of chimpanzee infants at Tama Zoo in Japan revealed a relationship between the mother's rearing behavior and the exploratory behavior of the offspring. We observed 8 chimpanzees (born since 1999) for the first 36 months of their lives. We compared their motor development, tool use, and separation from their mothers. Nervous mothers tended to spend time away from the social group, isolating their infant at an early stage and making them more cautious about being away from their mother. Developmental diversities in social, physical and cognitive abilities were also observed. Some were early developers in general, while others were early in social and physical aspects but late in cognitive development, while some were slow in general. Further data is needed for a more detailed analysis. Life at the zoo is different from life in the wild, but observing young zoo animals allows us to gain developmental data that would be more difficult to obtain in the wild.

Japanese and U.S. sixth, eighth, and tenth graders (N = 2141) responded to questionnaires asking whom they depended on in six contexts of need. These contexts were: morning awakening, physical illness, emotional upset, help with homework, causing a problem, and guidance in extracurricular activities. Findings indicated that, relative to culture, contextual effects exerted an equally if not more powerful effect on students' responses. In line with traditional cross-national theorizing, U.S. youth were, overall, more self-reliant than their Japanese peers. In contrast to such theorizing, U.S. students were more interdependent with family, and Japanese students were more interdependent with peers, than their counterparts in the other country. Furthermore, both Japanese and U.S. youth showed similar age-related decreases in interdependence with family and increases in interdependence with peers. Results are discussed in terms of active dyadic help-seeking versus conceptualized notions of social identity, and recent theories of development, culture, and the self. © 2008 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development.