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Structural and dialectal characteristics of the fictional and personal narratives of school-age African American children.

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE:To report preliminary comparisons of developing structural and dialectal characteristics associated with fictional and personal narratives in school-age African American children. METHOD:Forty-three children, Grades 2-5, generated a fictional narrative and a personal narrative in response to a wordless-book elicitation task and a story-prompt task, respectively. Narratives produced in these 2 contexts were characterized for macrostructure, microstructure, and dialect density. Differences across narrative type and grade level were examined. RESULTS:Statistically significant differences between the 2 types of narratives were found for both macrostructure and microstructure but not for dialect density. There were no grade-related differences in macrostructure, microstructure, or dialect density. CONCLUSION:The results demonstrate the complementary role of fictional and personal narratives for describing young children's narrative skills. Use of both types of narrative tasks and descriptions of both macrostructure and microstructure may be particularly useful for characterizing the narrative abilities of young school-age African American children, for whom culture-fair methods are scarce. Further study of additional dialect groups is warranted.

SUBMITTER: Mills MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3988833 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structural and dialectal characteristics of the fictional and personal narratives of school-age African American children.

Mills Monique T MT Watkins Ruth V RV Washington Julie A JA

Language, speech, and hearing services in schools 20130401 2

<h4>Purpose</h4>To report preliminary comparisons of developing structural and dialectal characteristics associated with fictional and personal narratives in school-age African American children.<h4>Method</h4>Forty-three children, Grades 2-5, generated a fictional narrative and a personal narrative in response to a wordless-book elicitation task and a story-prompt task, respectively. Narratives produced in these 2 contexts were characterized for macrostructure, microstructure, and dialect densi ...[more]

PMID: 23633645

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Project description:Considerable research has documented age-related growth in brain size as a marker of normal brain development. This is particularly important because brain volume has a significant role in overall cognitive performance. However, less research is done on whether age-related changes in the global brain volume differ across diverse racial and ethnic groups. We hypothesized that age-related growth in brain size would be disrupted in African American children who are historically affected by racism. Considering race as a proxy of racism rather than genetics, this study tested racial and ethnic differences in the effects of age on global brain volume using structural brain imaging data. Built on a sociological, rather than a biological theory, we built our study on Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs) framework, which argues that under racism, resources and assets are less effective for social groups that are historically racialized, discriminated against, marginalized, and segregated. Considering age as an asset/resource that increases the global brain volume, we expected weaker effects of age on overall brain size of African American and Hispanic children, than White and non-Hispanic children, again as a result of racism. We borrowed the structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI) data from the Children Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which included 9,311 9-10 year old children. The independent variable was the child's age treated as a continuous measure (in months). The primary outcome was global brain volume. Sex, parental employment, parental education, household income, and parental marital status were the covariates. Race and ethnicity, as proxies of racism, were the moderators. To analyze the data, we used linear regression models. Age was positively associated with the global brain size in children. In line with the MDRs, the positive association between age and global brain volume was weaker for African American than White children, while family structure, sex, and family socioeconomic status was controlled. Under racism, age has unequal effects on global brain size of diverse racial groups. In line with the MDRs, we observe diminished age-related growth of the brain for African American children, which documents detrimental effects of racism. For White children who are not affected by racism, age makes a large difference regarding global brain volume. Age-related growth of global brain size is diminished in African American children, whose daily lives are shaped by racism. School and residential segregation may have a role in reducing the effect of age on children's brain growth in African American families. The results should not be interpreted as inferiority of one group but social processes that hinder normal development of a historically oppressed group.

Project description:ImportancePeripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) disproportionately affects women of African ancestry, but well-powered studies to explore differences in severity of disease and clinical outcomes are lacking.ObjectiveTo compare the clinical characteristics, presentation, and outcomes of PPCM between African American and non-African American women.Design, setting, and participantsThis retrospective cohort study using data from January 1, 1986, through December 31, 2016, performed at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, a tertiary referral center serving a population with a high proportion of African American individuals, included 220 women with PPCM.Main outcomes and measuresDemographic and clinical characteristics and echocardiographic findings at presentation, as well as clinical outcomes including cardiac recovery, time to recovery, cardiac transplant, persistent dysfunction, and death, were compared between African American and non-African American women with PPCM.ResultsA total of 220 women were studied (mean [SD] age at diagnosis, 29.5 [6.6] years). African American women were diagnosed with PPCM at a younger age (27.6 vs 31.7 years, P < .001), were diagnosed with PPCM later in the postpartum period, and were more likely to present with a left ventricular ejection fraction less than 30% compared with non-African American women (48 [56.5%] vs 30 [39.5%], P = .03). African American women were also more likely to worsen after initial diagnosis (30 [35.3%] vs 14 [18.4%], P = .02), were twice as likely to fail to recover (52 [43.0%] vs 24 [24.2%], P = .004), and, when they did recover, recovery took at least twice as long (median, 265 vs 125.5 days; P = .02) despite apparent adequate treatment.Conclusions and relevanceIn a large cohort of women with well-phenotyped PPCM, this study demonstrates a different profile of disease in African American vs non-African American women. Further work is needed to understand to what extent these differences stem from genetic or socioeconomic differences and how treatment of African American patients might be tailored to improve health outcomes.

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Structural and dialectal characteristics of the fictional and personal narratives of school-age African American children.

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Structural and dialectal characteristics of the fictional and personal narratives of school-age African American children.

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