Children's nighttime fears: parent-child ratings of frequency, content, origins, coping behaviors and severity

The present study investigated nighttime fears in normal school children aged 4 to 12 yr (N=176). Children and their parents were interviewed about the frequency, content, origins, coping behaviors and severity of children's nighttime fears. Results showed that 73.3% of the children reported nighttime fears, indicating that these fears are quite prevalent. Inspection of the developmental course of nighttime fears revealed that these fears are common among 4- to 6-year-olds, become even more frequent in 7- to 9-year-olds and then remain relatively stable in 10- to 12-year-olds. Inspection of the origins of nighttime fears revealed that most of the children (i.e., almost 80%) attributed their fear to negative information; conditioning and modeling were endorsed less frequently (25.6% and 13.2%, respectively). A substantial percentage of the children (24.0%) indicated that learning experiences had not played a role in the acquisition of their nighttime fears. Children reported a variety of coping strategies in order to deal with their nighttime fears and generally rated these strategies as helpful in reducing anxiety. Furthermore, children's nighttime fears were associated with moderate levels of anxiety. Moreover, in about 10% of the children, nighttime fears were related to one or more DSM-III-R anxiety disorders. Finally, parental reports of children's nighttime fears substantially deviated from children's reports. Most importantly, parents provided a marked underestimation of the frequency of nighttime fears, at least as reported by their children.     

“I Believe in Cusk”: The Effect of Explicit Belief Statements on Children’s Reality Status Judgments and Beliefs about Consensus

Children learn about the world through others’ testimony, and much of this knowledge likely comes from parents. Furthermore, parents may sometimes want children to share their beliefs about topics on which there is no universal consensus. In discussing such topics, parents may use explicit belief statements (e.g., “Evolution is real”) or implicit belief statements (e.g., “Evolution happened over millions of years”). But little research has investigated how such statements affect children’s beliefs. In the current study, 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 102) were shown videos of their parent providing either Explicit (“Cusk is real”) or Implicit (“I know about cusk”) belief testimony about novel entities. Then, children heard another speaker provide either Denial (“Cusk isn’t real”) or Neutral (“I’ve heard of cusk”) testimony. Children made reality status judgments and consensus judgments (i.e., whether people agree about the entity’s existence). Results showed that explicit and implicit belief statements differentially influenced children’s beliefs about societal consensus when followed by a denial: explicit belief statements prevented children from drawing the conclusion that there is societal consensus that the entity does not exist. This effect was not related to age, indicating that children as young as 4 use these cues to inform consensus judgments. On the reality status task, there was an interaction with age, showing that only 4-year-olds were more likely to believe in an entity after hearing explicit belief statements. These findings suggest that explicit belief statements may serve as important sources of both children’s beliefs about novel entities and societal consensus.     

Adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Mother-adolescent interactions,family beliefs and conflicts,and maternal psychopathology

A group of 83 adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were subdivided into those with ADHD alone (n = 27) and those with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ADHD/ODD, n = 56). They were compared to each other and a community control group (n = 77) on measures of family conflicts, family beliefs, maternal adjustment, and observations of mother-adolescent interactions during both a neutral and conflict discussion. Both ADHD groups had more topics on which there was conflict and more angry conflicts at home than control adolescents on parent reports. Only the ADHD/ODD adolescents reported more such conflicts, endorsed more extreme and unreasonable beliefs about their parent-teen relations, and demonstrated greater negative interactions during a neutral discussion than the control teenagers. Similarly, only mothers of the ADHD/ODD teens displayed greater negative interactions during a neutral discussion, more extreme and unreasonable beliefs about their parent-teen relations, greater personal distress, and less satisfaction in their marriages than the mothers in the control group. Most findings for the ADHD only group were between the control group and the group with mixed ADHD/ODD but did not differ from either group. Results imply that it is the combination of ODD symptoms with those of ADHD that is associated with the greater-than-normal conflicts, anger, poor communications, unreasonable beliefs, and negative interactive styles seen in ADHD adolescents. These same characteristics typify their mothers' interactions as well such that both the adolescents' ODD symptoms and maternal psychological distress (hostility) make unique contributions to the degree of conflict and anger in the parent-teen relations of ADHD adolescents.     

Children's Representation of Child and Adult Knowledge

Do children think that adult knowledge subsumes or only partially overlaps child knowledge? Sixty-four 4- and 6-year-old children were asked either whether a child and an adult know the answers to questions tapping adult- and child-specific knowledge (Experiment 1) or to whom each question should be addressed (Experiment 2). Children were also asked directly about the existence of child-specific knowledge. The experiments provided converging evidence that beliefs about child-specific knowledge are relatively limited among 4-year-olds but become well articulated by age 6. The findings contribute to understanding the development of children's beliefs about the relation between knowledge and age.     

Cultural Variation in the Development of Beliefs About Conservation

Examining variation in reasoning about sustainability between diverse populations provides unique insight into how group norms surrounding resource conservation develop. Cultural institutions, such as religious organizations and formal schools, can mobilize communities to solve collective challenges associated with resource depletion. This study examined conservation beliefs in a Western industrialized (Austin, Texas, USA) and a non-Western, subsistence agricultural community (Tanna, Vanuatu) among children, adolescents, and adults (N = 171; n = 58 7–12-year-olds, n = 53 13–17-year-olds, and n = 60 18–68-year-olds). Participants endorsed or rejected four types of justifications for engaging in land and animal conservation: sustainability, moral, religious, or permissible. In both populations, participants endorsed sustainability justifications most frequently. Religious justifications increased with age in Tanna and decreased with age in Austin. Tannese participants were also more likely to endorse multiple justifications for conservation than Austin participants. Data across all justification types show a main effect of age in both communities; endorsement of conservation decreased with age in Austin, but increased with age in Tanna. Across age groups, participants were more likely to endorse the conservation of animals than land in Austin, yet equally as likely to endorse the conservation of land and animals in Tanna. Overall, these results reveal similarities and differences in the beliefs that support the conservation of natural resources across populations.     

The role of preacademic activities and adult-centeredness in mother-child play in educated urban middle-class families from three cultures

The present study analyzes similarities and differences in cultural beliefs about mother-child play and their manifestation in maternal and children’s play practices in three different educated urban middle-class cultures. Based on the general assumption that mother-child play is an important context for child learning and development in educated urban middle-class communities that should result in cross-cultural similarities in mother-child play, the current study also hypothesized culture-specific accentuations, namely a stronger emphasis on preacademic vs. non-academic play activities and on adult-centered vs. child-centered modes of interaction in Chennai, India, (n = 28) than in Münster, Germany, (n = 35) and New York City (NYC), USA, (n = 36). Maternal goals and strategies were assessed in semi-structured interviews and mothers from Chennai emphasized play goals and preacademic goals to similar degrees, whereas mothers from Münster and NYC accentuated play goals. In line with their emphasis on preacademic goals and strategies, Chennai mothers showed significantly more preacademic activities during play with their 2-year-olds, especially explicit teaching. Furthermore, Chennai mothers’ stronger emphasis on play directives and children’s higher levels of responsive play complemented the pattern of more adult-centered beliefs and practices. In contrast, mothers from Münster and NYC were more likely to emphasize child-centeredness, with significantly more goals revolving around child immersion in play activities and autonomy-supporting play practices, including autonomous exploration, toddlers’ leadership and control, and maternal responsiveness. Unexpectedly, toddlers from NYC engaged the most in preacademic activities, especially responding to maternal quizzing.     

Feminism and Attachment Parenting: Attitudes, Stereotypes, and Misperceptions

This paper investigated attitudes and stereotypes about what feminist women, primarily from the United States, believed about a number of practices associated with attachment parenting which is theorized to be both feminist and non-feminist. The goals of this study were to determine whether feminists endorsed attachment parenting and whether stereotypes of feminists’ beliefs corresponded to actual feminists’ attitudes. Women were recruited online, primarily through blogs, to complete an online survey about feminism and mothering. Four hundred and thirty one women comprised the sample for the current investigation and included heterosexual-identified feminist mothers (n?=?147), feminist non-mothers (n?=?75), non-feminist mothers (n?=?143), and non-feminist non-mothers (n?=?66). Participants were asked to rate their own attitudes towards specific practices associated with attachment parenting and to indicate their perceptions of the beliefs of the typical feminist. Results indicated that feminists were more supportive of attachment parenting practices than were non-feminists. Non-feminists, particularly mothers, held misperceptions about the typical feminist, seeing them as largely uninterested in the time-intensive and hands-on practices associated with attachment parenting. Feminist mothers also held stereotypes about feminists and saw themselves as somewhat atypical feminists who were more interested in attachment parenting than they thought was typical of feminists. Our data indicated that feminists did endorse attachment parenting and that stereotypes of feminists related to attachment parenting are untrue. Furthermore, the role of feminism in the identity of feminist mothers and whether attachment parenting is truly a feminist way to parent are discussed.     

Bewitchment, biology, or both: the co-existence of natural and supernatural explanatory frameworks across development

Three studies examined the co-existence of natural and supernatural explanations for illness and disease transmission, from a developmental perspective. The participants (5-, 7-, 11-, and 15-year-olds and adults; N = 366) were drawn from 2 Sesotho-speaking South African communities, where Western biomedical and traditional healing frameworks were both available. Results indicated that, although biological explanations for illness were endorsed at high levels, witchcraft was also often endorsed. More important, bewitchment explanations were neither the result of ignorance nor replaced by biological explanations. Instead, both natural and supernatural explanations were used to explain the same phenomena, and bewitchment explanations were highest among adults. Taken together, these data provide insight into how diverse, culturally constructed belief systems about illness co-exist across development.     

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children’s self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children’s self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother’s beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children’s negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child’s perspective. Children’s greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children’s emotion understanding to these processes.     

Responses of Preschoolers in Two Frustrating Episodes: Emergence of Complex Strategies for Emotion Regulation

Although research on young children's abilities to organize emotional states has increased in recent years, little is known about the emergence of complex strategies for emotion regulation in preschoolers. In the present study, emotion-regulation strategies used by 52 normally developing 3- and 4-year-olds were examined. Children and their primary caregivers (50 mothers, 2 fathers) participated in 2 controlled frustration episodes that were videotaped. Four types of strategies were coded: comforting behaviors, instrumental behaviors, distraction behaviors, and cognitive reappraisals. Results indicated that 3-year-olds used proportionately more instrumental strategies than 4-year-olds, and parents of 3-year-olds showed the same pattern, whereas parents of 4-year-olds did not. Moreover, 3-year-olds used a variety of strategies when frustrated, including cognitive reappraisals. Significant positive correlations were found between the types of strategies used by the children and by the parents to help their children. It is suggested that children may be using strategies to organize their emotional states before they are able to accurately report on them.     

4~6岁儿童对梦的起因和可控性的理解

以结构式访谈的方法考察了173名4~6岁儿童对梦的起因和可控性的理解。结果表明：（1）4~6岁儿童对梦的起因的理解接近成人的水平,他们认为具有与某事物相关经验和知识的人更有可能梦到该事物,而4~6岁儿童在偏好如何影响梦的的理解上与成人不同。（2）与4~5岁儿童比,有更多的6岁儿童认为梦具有弥补没有实现愿望的功能,但未达到成人的水平。（3）4~6岁儿童还不能理解梦是不可控的,表现在他们没有认识到做梦是一个不受意识控制的过程,并认为个体的意愿能够控制做梦     

A multivariate analysis of adolescents' orientations toward physician use

Health professionals know surprisingly little about the origins of the health beliefs and orientations they often seek to change, and they do not know about when, or if, changes in these orientations are likely to occur. This study is aimed at increasing our understanding of the origins and development of health beliefs and attitudes by focusing on the impact of parents' orientations toward physician utilization (inclination to consult a doctor when experiencing somatic symptoms) on the comparable orientations of their adolescent children. Hypotheses regarding direct parent-adolescent links are examined within a multivariate structural equations model relating demographics, adolescents' interpersonal competencies, and parental variables to adolescents' orientations toward physician utilization. Evidence for the development of these orientations is obtained by comparing influences across two groups of adolescents: 12- to 13-year-olds and 16- to 18-year-olds. Findings indicate that adolescents' orientations toward physician use are associated with those of their parents and that this link is generally stronger and more specific during late adolescence. The model also suggests that these orientations conform to social and cultural variables related to differences in social stratification.     

“Why me?”: Low-Income Women’s Poverty Attributions,Mental Health,and Social Class Perceptions

Although much is known about broad societal attitudes toward poverty, less is known about how women perceive their own poverty. We sought to examine the types of self attributions low-income women make about their poverty, as well as the association of self poverty attributions to women’s mental health and upward mobility beliefs. Using close-ended questions in a community sample of 66 low-income mothers from the Midwestern United States, we found these women were most likely to attribute their poverty to issues related to having children, their romantic relationships, and structural/government blame. The least endorsed attributions for poverty were fatalistic and individualistic reasons. Attributing one’s poverty to children and structural reasons was related to greater depression, and attributing one’s poverty to romantic relationships and structural reasons was related to greater anxiety. Moreover, attributing one’s poverty to children and romantic relationships was positively related to upward mobility beliefs, whereas individualistic attributions were negatively related to upward mobility beliefs. Understanding how women view their poverty and upward mobility can help to improve interventions and policies aimed at low-income women.     

Responses of preschoolers in two frustrating episodes: emergence of complex strategies for emotion regulation

Although research on young children's abilities to organize emotional states has increased in recent years, little is known about the emergence of complex strategies for emotion regulation in preschoolers. In the present study, emotion-regulation strategies used by 52 normally developing 3- and 4-year-olds were examined. Children and their primary caregivers (50 mothers, 2 fathers) participated in 2 controlled frustration episodes that were videotaped. Four types of strategies were coded: comforting behaviors, instrumental behaviors, distraction behaviors, and cognitive reappraisals. Results indicated that 3-year-olds used proportionately more instrumental strategies than 4-year-olds, and parents of 3-year-olds showed the same pattern, whereas parents of 4-year-olds did not. Moreover, 3-year-olds used a variety of strategies when frustrated, including cognitive reappraisals. Significant positive correlations were found between the types of strategies used by the children and by the parents to help their children. It is suggested that children may be using strategies to organize their emotional states before they are able to accurately report on them.     

The Role of Probability and Intentionality in Preschoolers' Causal Generalizations

Three experiments examined whether preschoolers recognize that the causal properties of objects generalize to new members of the same set given either deterministic or probabilistic data. Experiment 1 found that 3- and 4-year-olds were able to make such a generalization given deterministic data but were at chance when they observed probabilistic information. Five-year-olds reliably generalized in both situations. Experiment 2 found that 4-year-olds could make some probabilistic inferences, particularly when comparing sets that had no efficacy with sets in which some members had efficacy. Children had some difficulty discriminating between completely effective sets and stochastic ones. Experiment 3 examined whether 3- and 4-year-olds could reason about probabilistic data when provided with information about the experimenter's beliefs about causal outcomes. Children who were more successful on standard false-belief measures were more likely to respond as if the data were deterministic. These data suggest that children's probabilistic inferences develop into early elementary school, but preschoolers might have some understanding of probability when reasoning about causal generalization.     

A Cognitive-Interpersonal Approach to Depressive Symptoms in Preadolescent Children

Cognitive and interpersonal aspects of depressive symptoms were investigated in a community sample of children. Eighty-one 8- to 12-year-olds completed scales assessing cognitive representations of social relationships and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Teachers provided ratings of peer rejection. Children with elevated levels of depressive symptoms displayed increased negativity in their beliefs about self, family, and peers, as well as distinct patterns of interpersonal information processing. Anxiety symptoms did not make a unique contribution beyond depression to negative representations of family and peers; in contrast, symptom-specific profiles of self-representations were found. Structural equation analysis supported a model linking negative interpersonal representations, peer rejection, and depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that future studies may benefit from approaches that incorporate both cognitive and interpersonal variables as predictors of child depression.     

Parent–Daughter Communications and Emerging Adults’ Beliefs About Mate Selection

The current study explores the association between emerging adult females’ experiences discussing relationships with their parents during adolescence and their current constraining relationship beliefs about mate selection. Constraining beliefs about the need for complete assurance of personal and relational success were more strongly held, whereas beliefs that cohabitation improves later marital outcomes, successful relationships require little effort, and opposites attract were less likely to be endorsed. A broad range of topics on romantic relationships were discussed, most often with mothers, during adolescence. What these young adults recalled discussing and how they felt about those discussions were associated with some, but not all, of their current constraining beliefs. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Origins of Mothers' and Fathers' Beliefs about Infant Crying

Origins of mothers' and fathers' beliefs about infant crying were examined in 87 couples. Parents completed measures of emotion minimization in the family of origin, depressive symptoms, empathy, trait anger, and coping styles prenatally. At 6 months postpartum, parents completed a self-report measure of their beliefs about infant crying. Mothers endorsed more infant-oriented and less parent-oriented beliefs about crying than did fathers. Consistent with prediction, a history of emotion minimization was linked with more parent-oriented and fewer infant-oriented beliefs about infant crying for both mothers and fathers either as a main effect or in conjunction with the partners' infant-oriented beliefs. Contrary to expectation, parents' own emotional dispositions had little effect on parents' beliefs about crying. The pattern of associations varied for mothers and fathers in a number of ways. Implications for future research and programs promoting sensitive parenting are discussed.     

Young Children's Theory of Mind and Emotion

Abstract

In three experiments, children aged 3 to 7 years were tested for their understanding of the impact of beliefs and desires on emotion. Children watched while animal characters were offered various types of container and then predicted their emotional reaction. In Experiment 1, the children (but not the characters) knew that the desirable contents of each container had been removed. The majority of 6-year-olds and a minority of 4-year-olds understood that the characters would be happy with the gift, given their mistaken belief about its contents. In Experiment 2, characters were given containers apparently containing an object they wanted but really containing an object they did not want, or vice versa. Predictions of emotion based on both the desire and the mistaken belief of the characters increased with age. In Experiment 3, characters were given closed containers that might or might not contain an item they wanted. Both 3-and 5-year-olds grasped that the characters' emotional reaction would depend on both their (unconfirmed) beliefs and desires about its content.

The experiments show that preschool children deploy a theory-like conception of mind in predicting emotional reactions. They understand that the emotional impact of a situation depends not on its objective features but on the beliefs and desires that are brought to it.     

Thai Transgenders in Focus: Their Beliefs About Attitudes Towards and Origins of Transgender

ABSTRACT

One hundred and ninety-five transgendered females (i.e., male-to-female trans-genders (or MtF TGs)), with a mean age of 25.4 years, completed a questionnaire examining, inter alia, their beliefs about (a) attitudes (of parents and society) towards them (and to MtF TGs in general); and (b) origins of their own MTF TG status.

According to our participants, 62.9% of mothers and 40.6% of fathers accepted or encouraged their child's transgender from its first expression. Many with misgivings became more positive as time went on. According to 40.7% of our participants, Thai people overall held similarly favourable attitudes towards MtF TGs.

Many of our participants cited multiple origins for their transgender. Nearly 84% believed inborn biology had played a role. Friends and karma were also commonly endorsed as explanatory factors (50% and 48.4% respectively). Parents, siblings, and other relatives were less commonly cited (30.3%, 24.1%, and 22.2%, respectively). Cluster analysis revealed that, based on their beliefs, 97.1% of the sample could be divided into three groups. Most (61.2%) fell into a ‘biogenic’group, emphasising the role played by inborn biology, while 29.4% believed took a ‘peer psychogenic’ view, emphasising the role played by friends in the development of their transgender. A small ‘eclectic’ group (6.5%) believed that biology, karma, and parents combined to account for their transgender.