5～8岁儿童对模糊信息具有多重解释的理解

参照Carpendale和Chandler的实验范式,研究儿童对于“人们可能对同样信息给出不同解释”这一现象的理解,考察5~8岁儿童的解释性心理理论的发展。结果表明,5岁儿童不能理解心理过程的解释性,认为同样的信息只有一种合理的解释。从6岁开始,儿童才认识到,模糊信息可以有多种解释,但6、7岁时的这种理解并不完善,成绩随着任务要求而变化。8岁儿童才有比较稳定的解释性心理理论。     

Negative Interpretations of Interpersonal Situations and the Relation Between Low Perceived Support and Psychological Distress Among Divorced Adults1

This research tested hypotheses for a mechanism by which low perceived support may lead to psychological distress. According to social‐cognitive models, perceived support guides the interpretation of interpersonal situations. People with low perceived support interpret these situations more negatively than do people with high perceived support, and these negative interpretations lead to psychological distress. This mechanism is hypothesized to be distinct from similar mechanisms involving other social‐cognitive constructs, such as dysfunctional attitudes. These hypotheses were tested in 2 samples of adults adjusting to divorce. The data were consistent with predictions. Implications for understanding low perceived support's relation to distress and adults' adjustment to divorce were discussed.     

The Relation Between Maternal ADHD Symptoms &; Improvement in Child Behavior Following Brief Behavioral Parent Training is Mediated by Change in Negative Parenting

This study examined the extent to which maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms predict improvement in child behavior following brief behavioral parent training. Change in parenting was examined as a potential mediator of the negative relationship between maternal ADHD symptoms and improvement in child behavior. Seventy mothers of 6–10 year old children with ADHD underwent a comprehensive assessment of adult ADHD prior to participating in an abbreviated parent training program. Before and after treatment, parenting was assessed via maternal reports and observations and child disruptive behavior was measured via maternal report. Controlling for pre-treatment levels, maternal ADHD symptomatology predicted post-treatment child disruptive behavior problems. The relation between maternal ADHD symptomatology and improvement in child behavior was mediated by change in observed maternal negative parenting. This study replicated findings linking maternal ADHD symptoms with attenuated child improvement following parent training, and is the first to demonstrate that negative parenting at least partially explains this relationship. Innovative approaches combining evidence-based treatment for adult ADHD with parent training may therefore be necessary for families in which both the mother and child have ADHD. Larger-scale studies using a full evidence-based parent training program are needed to replicate these findings.     

Equanimity to Excess: Inhibiting the Expression of Negative Emotion is Associated with Depression Symptoms in Girls

Emotion dysregulation is often invoked as an important construct for understanding risk for psychopathology, but specificity of domains of emotion regulation in clinically relevant research is often lacking. In the present study Gross’ (2001) model of emotion regulation is used to generate hypotheses regarding the relative contribution of two specific types of deficits in emotion regulation, inhibited and disinhibited expression of negative emotion, to individual differences in depressive symptoms in preadolescent girls. A sample of 232 9-year-old girls was recruited from a community based study. Depression symptoms were assessed via diagnostic interview. The mother and interviewer rated the girl’s level of impairment. Questionnaires and observations were used to assess inhibited and disinhibited expression of negative emotion. Differences in inhibited expression of negative emotion typically explained more variance in depressive symptoms and impairment across informants than did disinhibited expression of negative emotion. Although disinhibited expression of negative emotion is associated with depression and impairment, inhibited expression appeared to be a necessary ingredient, suggesting that inhibited expression may be a particularly relevant deficit in emotion regulation in the development of depression in females.     

From Negative Emotionality to Aggressive Behavior: Maternal and Paternal Parenting Stress as Intervening Factors

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Child temperament plays a key role in the development of psychopathology, notably through transactions with the family environment. In particular,...     

Black Children's Adaptive Functioning and Maladaptive Behavior Associated With Quality of Family Support

The authors investigated differences in low-income Black children's adaptive functioning and maladaptive behavior in association with their father-figures' presence or absence, grade level, gender, and quality of family support as perceived by the children's caregivers.     

Negative Perfectionism: Examining Negative Excessive Behavior in the Workplace

The present paper explores the concept of negative perfectionism in the workplace. Negative perfectionism is unremitting and compulsive behavior in the process of striving to meet one's goals. We proposed that 4 types of negative or excessive behavior result from negative perfectionism in organizational settings: compulsive behavior, neurotic behavior, imposter behavior, and narcissistic behavior. Self-concept-based motivation theory was used as a framework for understanding how inaccuracies or inconsistencies between the evaluation of one's behavior in the workplace (goal-setting behavior) and the type of feedback cues to which one decides to attend (feedback-seeking behavior) might lead to these types of negative or excessive behaviors. Personal and managerial implications of negative perfectionism in organizational settings are discussed.

. . . when personal characteristics grate harmfully on others or significantly derail the success of the persons themselves, psychologists regard them not just as personality traits, but as personality disorders.

—Miller (1998)     

Factors Associated with Transposition Behavior of Preschool Children

To assess ideas, derived from a contextual paradigm, stressing the influence of adolescents' perceptions of the physical and social components of their school environment on their self-esteems and academic performances, 183 black early adolescents (mean age = 12.1 years, SD = .5 years; 54.6% female) were administered five semantic differential scales. The first provided a measure of self-esteem, while the remaining four provided measures of perceptions of the social environment of the school (i.e., of peers and of teachers) and of the physical environment of the school (i.e., of the classroom and of the school building). There were few systematic sex differences in responses to the scales. As predicted, school environment perceptions were significantly related to self-esteem in both males and females. However, although self-esteem and a report of grade point average, as a measure of academic performance, were significantly related, there was no relation between school environmental perceptions and reported grade point average.     

Maternal Characteristics Associated with Television Viewing Habits of Low-Income Preschool Children

Few studies have examined maternal characteristics associated with heavy or inappropriate television viewing on the part of their children. We investigated the relationship between children’s television viewing habits and maternal depressive symptoms and parenting beliefs. The participants were 175 low income children (mean age = 62.1 months) and their mothers who participated in a larger national study of Early Head Start eligible children. Our sample included families from two predominantly rural sites. Mothers completed a survey about the amount of time their children spend watching television during the week and on the weekend, and the types of programs they watch, as well as questionnaires related to maternal depression and parenting attitudes. According to mothers’ report, most of the young children in our sample exceeded the total viewing time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (maximum 2 h per day), and the majority watched at least some programming designed for adult audiences. Maternal depressive symptoms and beliefs about parenting were associated with heavier viewing on the part of the child, as well as with viewing of age-inappropriate content.     

Individual Differences Associated with Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Ambiguous Social Situations in which Rejection Might be Inferred

This study sought to examine the extent to which undergraduates' experiences with and attitudes relevant to rejection may be associated with their emotional and behavioral responses to ambiguous social situations in which rejection might be inferred. Undergraduate students completed questionnaires that assessed their experiences with and attitudes relevant to being rejected. Next, each participant read six hypothetical scenarios that described various situations that could be interpreted as interpersonal rejection. Following each scenario, participants completed questionnaires that assessed their emotional and behavioral responses to the hypothetical situation. Analyses revealed that the participants' experiences with rejection (and, to a lesser extent, their rejection-relevant attitudes) were associated with a negative emotional response and some negative behavioral responses. In sum, when another individual's interpersonal behavior has an uncertain intent, undergraduates' prior experiences with rejection may be especially important in determining the extent to which they feel and act as if they have been rejected.     

Aspects of Social Support Associated with Adaptation in Middle-Class,Single-Mother Families

Abstract

This study’s research question is: What aspects of social support are associated with adaptation in single-mother families? In a mixed-methods design, 47 participants were recruited through snowball sampling in Cape Town, South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and questionnaires were completed. Qualitative analysis indicated two main sources, paid and unpaid support. The quantitative analysis confirmed the following adaptation resources: harnessing family and friend support; having friends as a support; socializing with friends; receiving emotional support, practical help, and advice from friends. Significant differences were found between the family and friends groups for socializing and obtaining financial aid as a support.     

母亲负性情绪与儿童外化问题行为的关系：家庭嘈杂度的调节作用

摘 要 对251名学前儿童及母亲进行一年的追踪来考察母亲负性情绪与学前儿童外化问题之间的关系及这一关系是否受到家庭嘈杂度的影响。结果: (1) T1儿童外化问题能正向预测T2母亲负性情绪,而T1母亲负性情绪对T2儿童外化问题的预测不显著;(2)与低嘈杂家庭相比,高嘈杂家庭中儿童外化问题对母亲负性情绪的预测作用更强,且儿童外化问题也更为稳定。结论：母亲负性情绪与儿童外化问题的关系主要表现为儿童效应,且这一效应受到家庭环境的调节。     

Negative Numbers are not yet Automatically Associated with Space in 6th Graders

ABSTRACT

The metaphor of the mental number line accounts for numerous empirical effects of spatial-numerical associations. In the present study, we aimed at investigating directional spatial-numerical associations reflected by SNARC-like digit-direction and sign-direction congruency effects as well as the sign-digit compatibility effect when 6^th graders performed magnitude comparisons of multi-symbol numbers (i.e., positive and negative numbers). As spatial-numerical associations were associated with sensorimotor experiences, we used whole-body and finger tapping responses to manipulate the extent of motor responses. We only observed a SNARC-like digit-direction congruency effect, but neither a sign-direction congruency nor a sign-digit compatibility effect. This indicates that 6^th graders may already have developed spatial-numerical associations for absolute number magnitude, but not yet for polarity signs. Furthermore, not observing a sign-digit compatibility effect seemed to suggest that 6^th graders may not yet process multi-symbol numbers in the same parallel componential way as adults do. We argue that while 6^th graders are able to process negative numbers, they are not yet automatically associated with space or integrated in the place-value structure of the Arabic number system like multi-digit numbers are at this age.