Temperament,classmate likability,and social perspective coordination as correlates of children's parent-rated type A behaviors

Parents of 58 boys and 62 girls from grades three through eight completed the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), a measure of Type A behavior. Normative and reliability data were similar to those obtained from teachers as reported in the literature, but a factor analysis of parents' ratings revealed four factors (Competitiveness, Irritability, Impatience, and Leadership) as opposed to the two factors (Impatience/Aggression and Competitiveness) that have been derived from teacher ratings. Boys had higher total MYTH scores than girls, but correlations with age were not significant. No grade or gender effects were obtained for any of the four MYTH factor scores. Correlates of the MYTH scores were computed separately for boys and for girls. For boys, Irritability was related to Reactivity, a Difficult Temperament, low classmate Likeability, and poor performance on two social cognitive tasks (compromising and friendship understanding). For girls, Leadership was related to Classmate Likeability and good performance on the two social cognitive tasks. For boys only, total MYTH scores were related to low Attention Span, high Reactivity, a Difficult Temperament, and low Friendship Understanding scores. Findings are related to the gender differences found in the study of both ego control and cooperation/ competition.     

Cognitive and motivational determinants of children's humor responses

Cognitive and motivational influences on children's humor responses were examined. Forty-eight Caucasian children from three economically heterogeneous schools were tested. Equal numbers of middle SES and lower SES boys and girls from kindergarten and third grade were shown 12 aggression and dependency cartoons of different difficulty levels. Three responses to each cartoon were recorded: mirth, funniness rating, and comprehension score. Results support aspects of both psychodynamic and cognitive theories of humor response. All children preferred aggressive themes to dependency themes, and third graders especially showed attenuated response to dependency cartoons. Funniness ratings decreased as difficulty levels increased. IQ, as assessed by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-R, was positively related to humor. Mirth responses and funniness ratings increased as comprehension increased.     

Presence and quality of kindergarten children's friendships: concurrent and longitudinal associations with child adjustment in the early school years

The presence and quality of friendships are posited to have developmental significance, yet little is known about the extent to which children without friends versus low‐quality friendships compare on socioemotional adjustment. The current study utilized data from a subsample of 567 children (289 boys) participating in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Based on maternal reports at kindergarten, four friendship groups were formed: no friends, low quality, average quality, and high quality, and these groups were used to predict teacher‐reported behaviour problems and social skills concurrently (in kindergarten) and longitudinally (in first and third grade). Concurrently, low‐quality friendships were associated with greater externalizing behaviour, whereas high‐quality friendships were associated with greater social skills. Longitudinally, having no friends in kindergarten was associated with higher levels of externalizing behaviour for boys, but lower levels for girls. Children without friends also showed more internalizing problems at first grade. Lastly, having a high‐quality friendship in kindergarten was associated with greater social skills in first and third grades, but only for boys. Results underscore high‐quality friendship as a context for the development of social skills and indicate different trajectories of problem behaviour for kindergarten children with no friends versus low‐quality friendships. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developmental Links Between Children’s Working Memory and their Social Relations with Teachers and Peers in the Early School Years

This study assessed the developmental links between children’s working memory development and their relations with teachers and peers across 2 years of kindergarten and early elementary school. Kindergarten and first grade children, N?=?1109, 50 % boys, were followed across 2 school-years. Children were assessed across 3 waves, in the fall and spring of the first school-year (within school-year), and finally in the spring of the second school-year. Working memory was assessed using a visuo-spatial working memory task. The developmental links between working memory and child-reported teacher-child relationship quality (warmth and conflict) and peer-nominated likeability and friendedness were assessed using autoregressive cross-lagged models. Lower working memory scores were related to increases in teacher-child conflict and decreases in teacher-child warmth one school-year later, in addition to decreases in likeability by peers within the same school-year. Conversely, teacher-child conflict was negatively associated with the development of working memory across the studied period. Path estimates between working memory and social relational factors were similar for boys and girls. Findings show developmental links between working memory and social-relational factors and vice versa. These results suggest that children’s working memory development can be fostered through pro-social relations with teachers in early elementary school children.     

Children’s effortful control and academic achievement: do relational peer victimization and classroom participation operate as mediators?

Given that early academic achievement is related to numerous developmental outcomes, understanding processes that promote early success in school is important. This study was designed to clarify how students’ (N = 291; M age in fall of kindergarten = 5.66 years, SD = 0.39 year) effortful control, relational peer victimization, and classroom participation relate to achievement, as students progress from kindergarten to first grade. Effortful control and achievement were assessed in kindergarten, classroom participation and relational peer victimization were assessed in the fall of first grade, and achievement was reassessed in the spring of first grade. Classroom participation, but not relational peer victimization, mediated relations between effortful control and first grade standardized and teacher-rated achievement, controlling for kindergarten achievement. Findings suggest that aspects of classroom participation, such as the ability to work independently, may be useful targets of intervention for enhancing academic achievement in young children.     

Links between mothers' and children's social competence and associations with maternal adjustment.

Extended previous research on family factors related to children's social competence by examining links between 3 domains of maternal social competence (social skills, social frames, network size) and 3 domains of children's social competence (social skills, peer-rated social preference, and network size) in a sample of 78 mothers and their kindergarten children (42 girls, 36 boys). The mediational role of maternal social competence in the association between mothers' depression and interpersonal sensitivity symptoms and children's social competence was also tested. Results supported associations between all 3 domains of mothers' and children's social competence, with maternal social skills the most frequent predictor of children's social competence. Gender differences suggested that maternal social competence was more strongly related to sons' peer acceptance and daughters' social skills. A mediational model received preliminary support for girls, with maternal psychological symptoms related to girls' social competence via maternal social skills. Implications include the need for continued study of maternal social competence as a family factor related to children's peer functioning and the development of family-based interventions for young children experiencing peer problems.     

Teachers' observations on pupils' untruthfulness in relation to the ‘Lie’ scale

This study inspected the scores obtained on a ‘Lie’ scale in relation to teachers' observations on untruthful behaviour among four adolescent samples. The first and second groups were composed of 81 boys and 81 girls attending two comprehensive schools. The third group consisted of 81 boys who had been committed to a training school for delinquent boys and the fourth of 42 boys placed in a secure unit attached to the training school. The overall pattern of results suggested that the ‘Lie’ scale was associated with pupil characteristics of truthfulness and social conformity. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the meaning of the ‘Lie’ scale and its usefulness in practice.     

混龄编班对四岁儿童心理理论发展的影响

从个体的社会交往经验、同伴关系和社会行为等方面来探讨儿童心理理论发展的个体差异。中国独生子女缺乏西方通常的家庭内兄弟姐妹间的社会交往经验,幼儿园混龄编班为我们提供了一个与西方家庭近似平行的探讨条件。被试为混龄班44名、同龄班30名4岁儿童,男女各半。采用经典错误信念任务测查儿童的心理理论,用情绪知识理解任务测量儿童的情绪理解能力,儿童的社会行为评估问卷和儿童社会技能的教师评价量表对儿童的社会行为和社会技能进行考察。结果表明混龄编班对四岁儿童的错误信念理解和情绪理解有显著的影响,提示了混龄同伴交往经验对独生子女心理理论发展的意义。     

Loneliness and social dissatisfaction in Turkish adolescents

The present study is an investigation of the relationships of sociometric status, gender, and academic achievement to loneliness levels of Turkish adolescents. Participants were 370 secondary school students (186 girls and 184 boys). Data on loneliness and social dissatisfaction levels of students were collected with the Turkish version of S. R. Asher and V. A. Wheeler's (1985) Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale. Sociometric data were gathered by using a rating scale and a positive nomination measure devised by S. R. Asher and K. A. Dodge (1986) in which participants were classified into one of four groups (popular, rejected, neglected, and controversial). The scores obtained from these measures were treated by a method similar to that of J. D. Coie, K. A. Dodge, and H. Coppotelli's (1982) standard score approach. Results revealed that sociometric status was significantly related to loneliness and social dissatisfaction as a function of peer relations. Members of the rejected group reported significantly higher levels of loneliness and social dissatisfaction than did members of the controversial, popular, and neglected groups. The controversial group was also significantly different from the popular group in loneliness level. No significant gender differences were found. Results also revealed a significant negative relationship between achievement scores and loneliness, indicating that as the level of loneliness increased, academic achievement decreased.     

Family and ability correlates of academic achievement

Relationships were examined among family social status, family learning environments, intellectual ability, and the mathematics and word achievement of boys and girls. Data were collected from 516 (250 boys, 266 girls) 11-yr.-old Australian children and their parents. Analysis indicated that the relationships between the predictor and achievement variables varied for boys and girls and differed depending on the achievement measure being examined. Generally, the family and ability measures combined to have large associations with word scores, while intellectual ability was the only significant predictor of mathematics achievement.     

Effects of Academic Achievement and Gender on Academic and Social Self-Concept: A Replication Study

Female and male eighth-grade students representing very high, moderately high, and average levels of achievement were compared on measures of academic and social self-concept. Most of the differences were in academic self-concept, which was positively related to level of academic achievement. There also was an interaction of gender and academic achievement on academic self-concept. Average achieving girls had lower academic self-concept scores than all other groups of students. In addition, boys scored higher than girls on measures of academic self-concept and job competence. There were no significant differences on any of the social self-concept measures. The counseling implications of these findings for gifted students and girls of average achievement are discussed.     

Empathy and the Actor's Emotion’

Summary

Consensus ratings for beauty or attractiveness yielded comparatively low, though mostly positive, correlations with intelligence and educational achievement. Most of the correlations between beauty and intelligence and also between beauty and scholarship were in the neighborhood of +.20. Four groups of college students, two groups of girls and two groups of boys, served as S's. The consensus ratings for beauty were secured from 2 groups of judges, each group composed of 12 boys and 12 girls. These consensus ratings were correlated with ratings for intelligence and scholarship, as determined by intelligence test scores and by grades received in at least three semesters of college work. The ratings for beauty showed a high degree of variability. On the average, individual judgments deviated from the consensus ratings by about four steps. Deviations were greater for the middle group than for those taking a high or low position in the consensus ratings. The judges showed higher variability in rating their own sex than when rating the opposite sex.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORTHOGRAPHIC LINGUISTIC AWARENESS IN KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF THIS AWARENESS TO LATER READING ACHIEVEMENT

ABSTRACT

To examine the developmental course of children's understanding of print concepts, orthographic linguistic awareness, the Concepts About Print (CAP) test was given to 29 boys and 27 girls three times during their kindergarten year and on two occasions during their first‐grade year. That approximately 20% of these children did not understand print‐direction and letter‐word concepts at the beginning of the first grade confirmed previous findings that many children entering formal reading instruction may have little knowledge of the reading instruction register. Orthographic linguistic awareness, measured even at the beginning of kindergarten, was found to be highly correlated with reading achievement measured at the end of the first grade, and these relationships between orthographic linguistic awareness and reading achievement were consistently higher for the girls than for the boys. Path analyses including the Record of Oral Language, Metropolitan Readiness Test and Iowa Test of Basic Skills revealed strong direct influences of orthographic linguistic awareness at the beginning of the first grade on reading achievement measured at the end of first grade     

Kindergarten self-control mediates the gender reading achievement gap: A population-based cohort study

Could superior self-control explain the gender difference in reading achievement favoring girls? To test this idea, we drew on a unique population-based sample (N = 11,336) where self-control was measured in kindergarten using a multimethod battery of assessments. Girls showed substantially higher levels of self-control in kindergarten (β = 0.47) and outperformed boys on standardized tests of reading achievement in third/fourth grade (β = 0.20). Further, kindergarten self-control prospectively predicted reading achievement throughout elementary school (β = 0.37). Connecting these findings, our mediation analyses revealed that the female self-control advantage in kindergarten could account for subsequent gender differences in reading achievement. Our results suggest that early gender differences in self-control may represent a key pathway through which gender disparities in reading skills, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension occur.     

When girls versus boys play alone: nonsocial play and adjustment in kindergarten.

The goal of the present study was to examine the relations between different forms of children's nonsocial play behaviors and adjustment in kindergarten. The participants in this study were 77 kindergarten children (38 boys, 39 girls; mean age = 66.16 months, SD = 4.11 months). Mothers completed ratings of child shyness and emotion dysregulation. Children's nonsocial play behaviors (reticent, solitary-passive. solitary active) were observed during free play. In addition, teachers rated child behavior problems (internalizing and externalizing) and social competence; academic achievement was assessed through child interviews. Results from regression analyses revealed that different types of nonsocial play were differentially associated with child characteristics and indices of adjustment. For some forms of nonsocial play, the nature of these associations differed significantly for boys and girls.     

Factor structure of the Spanish version of the Spence Children Anxiety Scale (SCAS)

This paper presents the Spanish version of the Spence Children Anxiety Scale (SCAS), a rating scale for children and adolescents assessing anxiety disorders as they appear in the DSM-IV. SCAS scores were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses in a sample of 1671 children 10 to 17 years old. Results supported the proposed structure of six interrelated scales. This structure is completely invariant (except for means) in boys and girls and across age groups. Overall, girls scored slightly higher than boys. The relationship of SCAS scores with the child's age was nonexistent or very low and negative. The least frequent anxiety problems among children and adolescents were panic attacks and agoraphobia. Problems that most frequently presented extreme high scores were obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobia. It is concluded that the Spanish version of the SCAS can confidently be used in the assessment of anxiety disorders in children.     

The role of language skills in perceived prosocialityin kindergarten boys and girls

The main goal of this study is to clarify the role of language in perceived prosociality according to the gender of the child by using a sample of 209 French-speaking children (93 girls and 116 boys) attending kindergarten (M = 66.8 months, SD = 3.7). In keeping with many studies on this subject, our results showed significant gender differences with respect to the prosociality of kindergarten children as perceived by their teachers. In parallel with gender differences in prosociality, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the relation between language skills and assessments of prosociality by kindergarten teachers varies according to the gender of the child: language has an explanatory role in perceived prosociality for boys, but not for girls. Implications of these findings concerning the social role of sexes in education and avenues for future research are presented.     

Preschool Children’s Beliefs about Gender Differences in Academic Skills

Evidence from different Latin American countries shows a gap in the academic achievement of girls and boys. Chilean children’s achievement is a case in point, with the gender gap being especially large for mathematics achievement. These differences can be explained partly from the viewpoint of beliefs and implicit theories. Research in this field has focused mainly on elementary and secondary students, and there is no relevant data on preschool children. This study examines Chilean kindergarten children’s beliefs about differences in the academicals skills of girls and boys. Eighty-one preschool children (34 girls, mean age 5 years and 11 months) were recruited from schools serving a middle SES population from downtown Santiago. An instrument to test children’s implicit beliefs about gender differences in academic ability was adapted from previous research. Results support the hypothesis that boys and girls at the age of 5 already hold stereotypical expectations about boys’ and girls’ academic achievement. When asked about which school subject a character liked more, was better at, and found easier, participants showed no preference between math and language when reasoning about a male character, but they indicated that a female character would find math harder, perform worse at it, and like it less than language. These responses did not differ according to the gender of the participating children. Implications of these findings are addressed and limitations and future research are discussed.     

小学生社会技能家长评定量表编制与适用研究

研究旨在编制针对小学生社会技能的家长评定量表。有效样本1027名(男484名,女543名)。通过量表的编制、预测、修改和再测,确定了量表的3个层次,9个因素,量表的内在一致性信度为0.88,分半信度为0.76,量表总分与效标分数(同伴正提名分)相关显著(P<0.01)。量表编制发现:小学生社会技能在总体上存在性别和年级差异,女生显著高于男生,三年级显著低于二年级、五年级和六年级。     

The role of the executive functions in school achievement at the end of Grade 1

The aim of this study was to determine the role of executive functions (EFs) in early school achievement when a variety of potential confounding factors were controlled. Measures of EF (inhibition, flexibility, and working memory) and school readiness were administered to a sample of 85 kindergartners (39 boys and 46 girls, 5-6 years old). School achievement was then assessed at the end of Grade 1. Results show math and reading/writing skills at the end of Grade 1 to be associated with kindergarten EFs. Only working memory contributed uniquely to the variance in school achievement after all covariates (preacademic abilities, affective variables, and family variables) were controlled and, even then, only with respect to math skills. On the other hand, working memory and inhibition had an indirect effect on reading/writing skills via anger-aggression. EF implication in school achievement is discussed in terms of task demands and child age.