Showing papers in "Social Development in 2008"
TL;DR: Several constructs have been developed to refer to this capacity, for example maternal mind-mindedness, reflective functioning, and parental mentalizing, and as mentioned in this paper compare and contrast different constructs from diverse theoretical backgrounds.
Abstract: Recent studies of the relationship between parenting and child development have included a focus on the parent's capacity to treat the child as a psychological agent. Several constructs have been developed to refer to this capacity, for example maternal mind-mindedness, reflective functioning, and parental mentalizing. In this review article, we compare and contrast different constructs from diverse theoretical backgrounds that have been developed to operationalize parental mentalizing. We examine the empirical evidence to date in support of each of the constructs and review the relevant measures associated with each construct. Next, we discuss the possibility that these apparently diverse constructs may tap into the same underlying neurobiological socio-cognitive system. We conclude by proposing a testable model for describing the links between parental mentalization, the development of mentalizing in children, and child psychopathology.
366 citations
TL;DR: For instance, this paper found that adolescents who had lower levels of peer acceptance, number of friends, and friendship quality had higher teacher-reported maladjustment, while having high levels of friendship quality was an important buffer against adjustment problems.
Abstract: The unique contributions of peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization to adjustment were examined. How these relational systems moderate the influence of one another to influence adjustment was also investigated. Friendship quality, a unique aspect of friendship, was expected to be especially important for adjustment when other relational systems were poor. A total of 238 fifth to eighth graders (boys = 109) participated in the survey-style paradigm. Youth participants completed measures assessing their friendships and peer relationships. Teachers provided assessments of adjustment. Adolescents who had lower levels of peer acceptance, number of friends, and friendship quality had greater teacher-reported maladjustment. Friendship quality was also an important buffer against adjustment problems when peer acceptance and number of friends were low.The outcomes of this article suggest that an approach that includes examining the quality of adolescents’ friendships, peer interactions, and interactive models of relationship dimensions are informative for understanding adolescents’ general adjustment.
211 citations
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that mothers' references to emotion and emotion causal explanatory language predicted children's concurrent emotion understanding and theory of mind (ToM) in a picture-book task with 106 children (54 boys and 52 girls) at 3.5 and 5 years.
Abstract: The present study extends previous results demonstrating a relation between maternal discourse and child social understanding to include paternal discourse. Emotion understanding (EU) and theory of mind (ToM) were considered as two distinctive aspects of social understanding. Participants were 106 children (54 boys and 52 girls) studied at 3.5 and 5 years. Discourse measures came from separate parent–child conversations during a picture-book task; measures of EU and ToM came from children's performance on social cognition tasks. Differences in parental talk translated into important differences in the influence of each parent on children's social-cognitive understanding. Mothers' references to emotion and emotion causal explanatory language predicted children's concurrent EU. Fathers' use of causal explanatory language referring to desires and emotions predicted children's concurrent and later ToM. These results highlight important differences between mothers and fathers in their use of internal state language and its impact on children's social-cognitive understanding.
169 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined associations of maternal and child emotional discourse and child emotion knowledge with children's behavioral competence and found that mothers' and children's emotion explanations predicted prosocial behavior whereas mothers' use of positive emotional themes was negatively associated with children' anger perception bias.
Abstract: We examined associations of maternal and child emotional discourse and child emotion knowledge with children's behavioral competence. Eighty-five upper middle-income, mostly White preschoolers and mothers completed a home-based bookreading task to assess discourse about emotions. Children's anger perception bias and emotion situation knowledge were assessed in a separate interview. Children's prosocial behavior, relational aggression, and physical aggression were observed during a preschool-based triadic play task. Mothers' emotion explanations were correlated with children's emotion situation knowledge and relational aggression. Both mothers' and children's emotion explanations predicted prosocial behavior whereas mothers' use of positive emotional themes was negatively associated with children's anger perception bias. Physical aggression was predicted by mothers' emotion comments, children's anger perception bias, and lack of emotion situation knowledge. Maternal emotion socialization variables were less strongly related to children's behavioral competence after accounting for demographics and child emotional competence. Implications of these findings for future research on emotion socialization are discussed.
157 citations
TL;DR: The findings suggest that a complex interplay of within-child and maternal factors affect the development of internalizing behavior in the early school years.
Abstract: Children with behavioral inhibition, a temperamental style characterized by infant distress to novelty and childhood social reticence, exhibit both continuity and discontinuity of this behavioral trait over the course of development. However, few researchers have identified factors that might be responsible for these different patterns. In the current study, child care history, maternal personality and maternal behavior were examined as moderators of the relations between infant temperament, preschool social reticence and childhood social wariness. Seventy-seven children participated in this longitudinal study that began in infancy and continued into middle childhood. Maternal negative personality moderated the relation between infant temperament and 7-year social wariness. In addition, maternal behavior moderated the relation between preschool social reticence and 7-year social wariness. The findings suggest that a complex interplay of within-child and maternal factors affect the development of internalizing behavior in the early school years.
149 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the moderating effect of maternal behavior in the relation between social reticence and shyness in preschool and subsequent social withdrawal was investigated, and two significant interaction effects indicated that maternal report of shyness was a positive predictor of age-seven social withdrawal when mothers lacked positivity.
Abstract: The moderating effect of maternal behavior in the relations between social reticence and shyness in preschool and subsequent social withdrawal was investigated. Eighty children (47 females) were judged for degree of social reticence during play with unfamiliar peers at age four and mothers completed the Colorado child temperament inventory (CCTI). At age seven, the children were coded for degree of social withdrawal during peer play and mothers and children were observed during structured and unstructured activities. Two significant interaction effects indicated that maternal report of shyness was a positive predictor of age-seven social withdrawal when mothers lacked positivity; whereas observed social reticence was associated with higher degrees of social withdrawal when mothers were highly negative. Maternal positivity and negativity differentially influenced the development of social withdrawal in childhood, such that maternal negativity is associated with poor social functioning in children who have an established history of social withdrawal; whereas maternal positivity is associated with better social outcome for preschoolers who are viewed as temperamentally shy.
136 citations
TL;DR: This article found that self-perceptions of popularity moderate the link between actual peer-perceived popularity and aggression, with adolescents who were both popular and aware of their popular status, scoring highest on peer-nominated aggression and showing the greatest increases in aggression over time.
Abstract: Moderators of the well‐established association between status and overt and relational aggression were tested in a four‐year longitudinal sample (N = 358) of high school students. Self‐perceptions of popularity were found to moderate the link between actual peer‐perceived popularity and aggression, with adolescents who were both popular and aware of their popular status, scoring highest on peer‐nominated aggression and showing the greatest increases in aggression over time. Self‐perceptions of liking moderated the associations between social preference and aggression as well. Adolescents who saw themselves as disliked were particularly likely to show increases in aggression over time. The moderating effect of self‐perceptions was further moderated by gender in several cases. Findings are discussed in light of Coie's theory of the development of peer status theory. The social‐cognitive elements of high peer status, particularly of perceived popularity, are also highlighted.
130 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated shared and unique associations of early adolescent friendship and peer victimization with self reports of school liking and teacher reports of academic competence, and found that self-reported victimization was associated with lower school liking among students who reported higher friendship support.
Abstract: This study investigates shared and unique associations of early adolescent friendship and peer victimization with self reports of school liking and teacher reports of academic competence. Participants were 398 sixth and seventh grade students and their teachers and peers. Measures of friendship included self reports of friendship support and mutual friendship nominations, and measures of peer victimization also included self and peer reports. Regression analyses revealed that friendship support and mutual friendships were uniquely associated with higher school liking and academic competence, and peer-reported victimization was uniquely associated with lower academic competence. Moderation analyses revealed that self-reported victimization was associated with lower school liking among students who reported higher friendship support but not among students who reported lower friendship support. The developmental context of findings and potential mechanisms are discussed.
120 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of parenting on adjustment problems in children was found to be dependent upon temperament and, in some cases, child sex, while anxiousness moderated the impact of inconsistent discipline and physical punishment on internalizing and externalizing problems.
Abstract: Interactions among multiple dimensions of child temperament and parenting were tested as predictors of change in child adjustment problems using a community sample (N = 188) of children (8–12 years). Significant interactions suggested that the effect of parenting on changes in problems were dependent upon temperament and, in some cases, child sex. Effortful control mitigated the potential negative impact of inconsistent discipline and physical punishment on externalizing problems, whereas frustration exacerbated the effects of inconsistent discipline and rejection. Anxiousness moderated parenting only for boys, mitigating the impact of inconsistent discipline on internalizing and externalizing problems but exacerbating the effects of physical punishment on externalizing problems. Implications for identifying children at risk for developing adjustment problems and for parenting interventions are discussed.
119 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the associations among psychologically controlling parenting, relational aggression, friendship quality, and loneliness during adolescence and proposed a model in which relational aggression plays an intervening role in the relations between both parental psychological control and friendship outcomes.
Abstract: This study investigated the associations among psychologically controlling parenting, relational aggression, friendship quality, and loneliness during adolescence. A model was proposed in which relational aggression plays an intervening role in the relations between both parental psychological control and friendship outcomes. In a sample comprised of middle adolescents and their parents, process analyses revealed that psychological control (indexed by parent and adolescent reports) positively predicted adolescents' self-reported relational aggression that, in turn, negatively predicted friendship quality and positively predicted loneliness. The model held for both mothers and fathers and was not moderated by adolescent gender. The discussion focuses on possible mechanisms explaining the relations among psychological control, relational aggression, and friendship outcomes.
114 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a biopsychosocial model was tested, in which children's parasympathetic regulation of cardiac function and paternal and maternal socialization of negative emotions were examined as joint predictors of young children's social competence and behavior problems at daycare and preschool.
Abstract: Variations in parents' emotion socialization have been linked to children's social competence (SC) and behavior problems, but parental influences do not act independently of children's characteristics. A biopsychosocial model was tested, in which children's parasympathetic regulation of cardiac function and paternal and maternal socialization of negative emotions were examined as joint predictors of young children's SC and behavior problems at daycare and preschool. Mothers and fathers responded differently to children's emotions, and cardiac vagal tone moderated the relations between parents' emotion socialization and children's behavior in early childcare settings. Both maternal and paternal emotion socialization strategies were more strongly associated with preschool adjustment for children with relatively less parasympathetic self-regulatory capacities than for more self-regulated children. Paternal reactions to children's anger, and maternal responses to children's sadness and fear, were particularly closely tied to variations in SC and internalizing and externalizing problems.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relation among attachment, mother-child discourse, and theory of mind in a sample of 76 four-year-old children (mean age = 4.48 years; 36 boys).
Abstract: This study investigated the relations among attachment, mother–child discourse, and theory of mind in a sample of 76 four-year-old children (mean age = 4.48 years; 36 boys). Mother–child conversations about a past event were coded for maternal use of elaborative discourse and mothers' references to mental states. Mothers completed the attachment q-sort and children completed four false-belief tasks. Results revealed that maternal conversational elaboration was a significant predictor of children's theory-of-mind performance, whereas maternal mental state references and attachment security were not. The findings provide further evidence for the importance of discourse in children's theory-of-mind development.
TL;DR: Results indicated that the nominations received from the other-sexGrademates and from the grademates outside the classroom improved the predictive validity of the sociometric measure.
Abstract: Studies reporting sociometric assessments based on nominations have been characterized by important methodological inconsistencies when conducted in the middle school context. The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the possibility of a response bias when participants are provided with a long roster sorted alphabetically, (2) the impact of including or not other-sex peers in the voting population, and (3) the impact of including or not all the grademates in the voting population. Participants were 664 sixth graders from three middle schools. Peer nominations for sociometric items (i.e., like most and like least), as well as teacher ratings of antisocial behavior and records of academic performance, were collected. A sequence effect in peer nominations was found, suggesting that students whose names were listed higher on the rosters received more nominations than did students whose names were listed lower on the list. Moreover, results indicated that the nominations received from the other-sex grademates and from the grademates outside the classroom improved the predictive validity of the sociometric measure. The implications of these results for the use of sociometric assessment in middle schools are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the developmental and gender effects in the transmission of information about a tool-use task within a diffusion chain design and found that five-year-olds displayed more robust transmission than three-yearolds, and boys were both more competent and displayed stronger transmission than girls.
Abstract: Developmental and gender effects in the transmission of information about a tool-use task were investigated within a ‘diffusion chain’ design. One hundred and twenty-seven children (65 three-year-olds and 62 five-year-olds) participated. Eighty children took part in diffusion chains in which consecutive children in chains of five witnessed two attempts on a tool-use task by the previous child in the chain. Comparisons were made between two experimental conditions in which alternative techniques were seeded and a third no-model control condition. Children in the diffusion chains conformed to the technique they witnessed, in one experimental condition faithfully transmitting a technique absent in the no-model condition. Five-year-olds displayed more robust transmission than three-year-olds, and boys were both more competent and displayed stronger transmission than girls.
TL;DR: In 1935, the United States Congress proclaimed the first Sunday in August to be National Friendship Day and no less than the United Nations named Winnie the Pooh as the world’s Ambassador of Friendship.
Abstract: In 1935, the United States Congress proclaimed the first Sunday in August to be National Friendship Day. In 1997, no less than the United Nations named Winnie the Pooh as the world’s Ambassador of Friendship. Clearly, if the United States Congress and the United Nations have taken the time to discuss and vote on the significance of friendship, the phenomenon must be of some importance. If the reader is still not persuaded by the votes delivered by Congress or the United Nations, perhaps the sage words of other significant individuals will prove convincing.
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that male aggression was most often described as being verbal or directly physical in nature, especially in same-sex dyads, while female aggression was indirectly relational, verbal, or non-verbal (ignoring/avoiding) across dyads.
Abstract: Few studies have examined the nature of aggression in emerging adulthood (ages 18–25), a unique developmental period wherein relationships become increasingly important and intimate. Consistent with a greater emphasis on relationships, relationally manipulative forms of aggression may be particularly salient during this time period. Based on content analysis of perceptions of 134 undergraduate students, this study documents a significant spectrum of normative aggressive behaviors among emerging adults. Participant responses were coded into categories reflective of current aggression research. Findings indicate that perceptions of salient aggressive strategies vary by gender of both the aggressor and the victim. For example, male aggression was most often described as being verbal or directly physical in nature, especially in same-sex dyads. In contrast, female aggression was most often described as being indirectly relational, verbal, or non-verbal (ignoring/avoiding) across dyads. However, direct relational aggression was also fairly prominent in perceptions of female aggression toward males.
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between the global experience of stress in mothers and child temperamental characteristics (infant behavior questionnaire and child behavior questionnaire) could be conceptualized through transactional models of development.
Abstract: Although there is growing consensus that parental stress is a risk factor in child development, longitudinal studies of its effects are few. This study tested a sample of 231 mother–child dyads in terms of whether the relations between the global experience of stress in mothers (perceived stress scale) and child temperamental characteristics (infant behavior questionnaire and child behavior questionnaire) could be conceptualized through transactional models of development. The assumption was that higher negative emotionality and lower positive affectivity in the infants would contribute to an increase in maternal stress over a five-year period, beginning in infancy, and that higher maternal stress would contribute to an increase in child negative affectivity and a decrease in positive affectivity and self-regulation over the same period. Evidence was found for both hypotheses, but not within the same models: the effect of maternal stress on child temperamental development was greater. The results are discussed with reference to bidirectional models of temperamental development.
TL;DR: This article examined the effect of peer group norms on children's direct and indirect bullying intentions and found that children's bullying intentions were greater when the in-group had a norm of outgroup dislike vs. out-group liking and the children were younger rather than older.
Abstract: A minimal group study examined the effect of peer group norms on children's direct and indirect bullying intentions. Prior to an inter-group drawing competition, children (N = 85) aged seven and nine years were assigned to a group that had a norm of out-group dislike or out-group liking. Results indicated that, regardless of group norms, the children's attitudes were more positive towards the in-group vs. the out-group. Children's bullying intentions were greater when the in-group had a norm of out-group dislike vs. out-group liking, the children were younger rather than older, and the bullying was indirect vs. direct. A three-way interaction showed that the in-group norms had a larger effect on the younger children's direct rather than indirect bullying intentions, but a larger effect on the older children's indirect rather than direct bullying intentions. Implications for understanding school bullying intentions and behaviour are discussed.
TL;DR: This article examined children's cognitive and language development and social engagement of mother as mediators of the relationship between maternal emotional availability at 15 months and children's empathy at the ages of two and four.
Abstract: The goal of this study was to examine children's cognitive and language development and social engagement of mother as mediators of the relationship between maternal emotional availability at 15 months and children's empathy at the ages of two and four Participants were 661 low-income, ethnically diverse mother-child dyads participating in a trial of home visitation in the Denver area Using home- and lab-based free-play episodes, mothers' emotional availability (15 months) and children's social engagement of mother (21 and 24 months) were assessed Standardized measures were used to assess children's language development (21 months) and cognitive development (24 months) Empathy was assessed using a simulated injury paradigm at ages two (both 21 and 24 months) and four The predictive models supported the hypothesis that the child's cognitive and social resources mediate the relationship between maternal emotional availability and children's empathy with respect to empathy at the age of two toward both mothers and an unfamiliar examiner These results indicate that parental sensitive behavior is not the only important condition for predicting children's empathy, and that children's own internalized resources are a likely mechanism of transmission from parents caring for their children to children learning to care for others
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the opposing hypotheses that either low or exaggerated but disputed self-esteem is related to aggression in 652 12-year-old schoolchildren and found that both low levels of global self-worth and exaggerated, but disputed, selfesteem were related with aggression.
Abstract: This study examined the opposing hypotheses that either low or exaggerated but disputed self-esteem is related to aggression in 652 12-year-old schoolchildren. Children provided peer nominations of social acceptance and of physical aggression, self-ratings of global self-worth and of social satisfaction. Teachers rated aggressive behavior and internalizing problems. Exaggerated but disputed self-esteem was conceptualized as discrepancies between self and peer evaluations of social satisfaction and of social acceptance, respectively, in combination with peer rejection. The main results showed that both low levels of global self-worth and exaggerated but disputed self-esteem were related to aggression. The findings indicated that, depending on how self-esteem is conceptualized, aggressive children may appear to have both a low and a high self-esteem. Regarding gender differences, exaggerated self-esteem was more strongly related to aggression in boys than in girls.
TL;DR: This paper examined the role of family cultural values as moderators of the association between family relations and the adjustment of young children and found that familism emerged as a family characteristic capable of promoting young children's adjustment within and beyond the family context.
Abstract: This study examined the role of family cultural values as moderators of the association between family relations and the adjustment of young children. Fifty-five families of Mexican descent with young children enrolled in Head Start programs in the Southwest participated. Mothers provided information about closeness of the mother–child relationship, warmth in the sibling relationship, child behavior problems, and familism and simpatia, or two cultural values associated with families of Mexican origin. The children's preschool teachers provided information about child emotional adjustment and social functioning with peers six months later. Familism was found to act as a moderator, whereby warmth and closeness in family relationships coupled with the endorsement of a family cultural value that complements these relationship characteristics was associated with more optimal functioning in preschool classrooms. Results demonstrate the need to evaluate family cultural values or beliefs systems in conjunction with qualities of family relationships as determinants of children's developmental outcomes. Specifically, familism emerged as a family characteristic capable of promoting young children's adjustment within and beyond the family context.
TL;DR: This article examined individual differences in two conceptually related but empirically distinct domains of social-cognitive competence (cognitive interpretive understanding and interpersonal perspective co-ordination) as moderators of the relation between peer rejection and neglect and behavioral and emotional problems in grades 2 and 3.
Abstract: This prospective, longitudinal study examines individual differences in two conceptually related but empirically distinct domains of social-cognitive competence (cognitive interpretive understanding and interpersonal perspective co-ordination) as moderators of the relation between peer rejection and neglect and behavioral and emotional problems in grades 2 and 3. As expected, peer rejection and neglect increased risks for behavioral and emotional problems whereas interpretive understanding (understanding of mental states) and perspective co-ordination (awareness of others' emotions and motives) reduced risks for aggressive, disruptive, inattentive, and anxious, sad, withdrawn behaviors. Assumptions that awareness of others' perspectives bestows consistent benefits for children experiencing peer problems were challenged. Unexpectedly, rejection and neglect increased risks for behavioral and emotional problems for children who demonstrated average and high levels of perspective co-ordination. More advanced perspective co-ordination may heighten children's sensitivity to peer relationship problems and result in general maladjustment, both concurrently and over time. Less advanced perspective co-ordination may also be responsible for the ‘optimistic bias’ that has been noted in aggressive children.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored whether more positive caregiving was associated with a more secure attachment relationship and whether this association was stronger for more temperamentally irritable children compared to less irritable ones.
Abstract: In this study, children's attachment relationships with their professional caregivers in center day care were observed for 48 children. We explored whether more positive caregiving was associated with a more secure attachment relationship and whether this association was stronger for more temperamentally irritable children compared to less irritable children. Trained observers coded the attachment relationship in the day care setting using the attachment Q-sort. The observational record of the caregiving environment was used to assess children's individual experience of positive caregiver-child interaction in the classroom. When caregivers showed more frequent positive caregiving behavior, children showed more secure attachment behavior toward their primary professional caregiver. Temperament was not related to attachment security, nor did it serve as a moderator. Consequently, no support for Belsky's susceptibility hypothesis was found.
TL;DR: The authors examined emotion self-awareness of happiness, sadness, and anger in response to a delay-of- gratification task in 78 preschool children and found that the concordance between observed and self-reported emotion serves as a useful index of children's awareness of their emotional experience.
Abstract: Preschoolers’ ability to demonstrate awareness of their own emotion is an important socio-emotional competence which has received increasing attention in the developmental literature. The present study examined emotion self-awareness of happiness, sadness, and anger in response to a delay of gratification task in 78 preschool children. Maternal emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs) including reported emotional expressivity, responses to her child’s emotions, and observed emotion talk, were examined as predictors of children’s emotion self-awareness skill one year later. Results show that, after controlling for receptive language ability, supportive ERSBs were predictive of high self-awareness of happiness whereas non-supportive ERSBs were predictive of low self-awareness of sadness. The results demonstrate that the concordance between observed and self-reported emotion serves as a useful index of children’s awareness of their emotional experience.
TL;DR: This paper evaluated the utility of the social competence scale (SCSSC)-parent version, a measure of social competence developed for children of elementary school age, for use with preschool-age children, using data from two samples of preschoolers: a community sample assessed at enrollment to pre-kindergarten programs and a high-risk sample of children at familial risk for conduct problems participating in a preventive intervention trial.
Abstract: This study evaluated the utility of the social competence scale (SCS)-parent version, a measure of social competence developed for children of elementary school age, for use with preschool-age children. Data were derived from two samples of preschoolers: a community sample assessed at enrollment to pre-kindergarten programs and a high-risk sample of children at familial risk for conduct problems participating in a preventive intervention trial. Using data from both samples, we assessed the factor structure, internal consistency, and stability of the SCS, and whether the SCS discriminated the high-risk sample from the community sample. Results support the utility and construct validity of the SCS for use in preschoolers. The total SCS scale was relatively stable over 24 months during the preschool period and was correlated with other measures of social competence, parent ratings of emotion regulation, lability and behavior problems, and tests of child cognitive ability.
TL;DR: The authors examined longitudinal associations between the quality of parenting responses and children's distress reactivity during children's second year of life and found that mothers' contingent harsh parenting responses to children's non-compliance when children were 12 months of age predicted increases in children's observed distress from 12 to 24 months, but children's level of distress at 12 months did not predict change in harsh parenting response over the same time period.
Abstract: During early childhood, harsh and emotionally negative parent–child exchanges are expected to increase children's risk for developing later conduct problems. The present study examined longitudinal associations between the quality of parenting responses and children's distress reactivity during children's second year of life. Forty-seven mother–child dyads completed observational assessments of children's distress reactivity and mothers’ harsh and supportive parenting when children were 12 and 24 months of age. Results indicated that mothers’ contingent harsh parenting responses to children's non-compliance when children were 12 months of age predicted increases in children's observed distress from 12 to 24 months, but children's level of distress at 12 months did not predict change in harsh parenting responses over the same time period. In contrast, supportive parenting contingent responses did not predict declines in children's distress reactivity, although children's distress reactivity predicted declines in mothers’ supportive parenting responses from 12 to 24 months. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of the quality of parent–child interactions as a point of entry onto developmental pathways of risk.
TL;DR: There is a positivity bias in young children's personality judgments even in the face of explicit contradictory behavioral evidence, suggesting that children's early `theory of personality' is apparently driven by a baseline assumption that people are nice.
Abstract: The present study examined the use of consensus information in early childhood. Ninety-six three- to six-year-olds watched a demonstration that depicted the positive or negative behavior of one or several actors toward a recipient (low vs. high consensus, respectively). Subsequently, participants made behavioral predictions and personality judgments about the actors and recipients. Participants viewed all story characters favorably and were reluctant to assign blame for negative outcomes, although the appropriate use of consensus information increased with age for behavioral predictions. These findings suggest that there is a positivity bias in young children’s personality judgments even in the face of explicit contradictory behavioral evidence. Children’s early ‘theory of personality’ is apparently driven by a baseline assumption that people are nice.
TL;DR: In this article, a study aimed to replicate previous links with children's adjustment as well as using children's reports of maternal differential treatment (MDT) to test whether difference scores or favouritism scores demonstrate stronger links with child outcome.
Abstract: The study aimed to replicate previous links with children's adjustment as well as using children's reports of maternal differential treatment (MDT) to test whether difference scores or favouritism scores demonstrate stronger links with child outcome. Finally, it tested for a unique prediction of children's adjustment from distinct aspects and informants of MDT. The sample consisted of 173 working- and middle-class English families with two children aged four to eight years. Mothers provided reports of the mother-child relationship, and both mothers and fathers provided reports of the children's problematic behaviour. The children also provided reports of parent-child relationships and perceived favouritism via a puppet interview. Results confirmed moderate links between MDT and children's adjustment and showed that difference scores provided a better prediction of adjustment than did the favouritism scores. Finally, the results showed that mothers' reports of differential positive feelings were the most salient aspect of MDT for older siblings whereas mothers' reports of negative feelings and positive discipline were the most salient aspects of MDT for younger siblings. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2008.
TL;DR: This article investigated the flexibility of early adolescents' (N = 80, 40 boys, 40 girls; M age = 13.14; SD =.65) masculinity and femininity as a function of the interpersonal context (same or other-sex partner) and situational demands (cooperation or competition).
Abstract: Using a social constructionist perspective, we investigated the flexibility of early adolescents' (N = 80, 40 boys, 40 girls; M age = 13.14; SD = .65) masculinity and femininity as a function of the interpersonal context (same‐ or other‐sex partner) and situational demands (co‐operation or competition). Participants played a block‐building game with a girl and a boy peer and were instructed either to play the game co‐operatively or competitively. Boys' and girls' femininity scores were greater when working with a girl peer rather than a boy peer. Stereotypical gender differences in masculinity were most apparent when instructions emphasized co‐operation. These findings provide empirical support for a social constructionist theory of gender development by demonstrating how the proximal situation changes adolescents' views of gendered aspects of their identity. A conceptualization of masculinity and femininity as flexible states is discussed as supplementing the idea that masculinity and femininity are enduring personality traits. Implications of the study for understanding how social situations maximize or minimize gender differences and similarities are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extended the investigation of family process models of parental dysphoria and child adjustment, by examining depressive symptoms in both fathers and mothers, and by examining children's representations of family relationships as possible explanatory mechanisms.
Abstract: This study extends the investigation of family process models of parental dysphoria and child adjustment, by examining depressive symptoms in both fathers and mothers, and by examining children's representations of family relationships as possible explanatory mechanisms. Participants were 232 children (Time 1 mean age: 5.99; 105 boys, 127 girls) and their cohabiting parents, who participated for three consecutive years. Children's internal representations of multiple family relationships were assessed by means of a story stem completion task. Structural equation modeling indicated that children's inter-parental and attachment representations are part of the process whereby parental depressive symptoms influence child externalizing symptoms. Maternal depressive symptoms also predicted changes in children's representations of marital and attachment relationships over time. The implications for family process models of relations between parental depressive symptoms in community samples and child development are discussed.