KEY POINTS:
A new study will look at the influence of language on children's social development.
University of Otago researcher Mele Taumoepeau received a $324,500 Pacific Postdoctoral Fellowship award from the Health Research Council to fund the study. He will look at how poor understanding in children is linked to later behavioural issues.
The study will involve 100 Pacific Island children and their families.
The award was one of three masters, three PhD and one postdoctoral awards given out in 2007. They totalled nearly $650,000. Other recipients:
* Sera Tapu-Ta'ala, Pacific diabetes concerns, $16,000
* Analosa Ulugia-Veukiso, spirituality and heath risks in Samoan youth, $16,000
* Tokilupe Taumoepeau, cancer, $16,000
* Amanda Dunlop, marketing and Pacific people, $66,950
* Neti Herman, promoting youth health, $100,950
* Seini Taufa, Tongan teenage pregnancy in NZ, $106,550.
- NZPA
