Studies in the Psycho-Physiology of Transfer: III. Bilateral Practice Effects in Normal and Mirror Writing

Thirty-six children who had participated in two separate preschool studies of play interests were given an interest questionnaire when in elementary school. Sex differences in interests were studied with both age groups, with both sexes showing more varied interests in elementary school than they had in preschool. There was a significant correlation between preschool and elementary school masculinity-feminity scores for boys but not for girls. The implications of the broadening of interest patterns for both sexes and the lack of significant sex role correlations for girls were discussed in terms of changing sex role standards.     

The role of brothers and sisters in the gender development of preschool children

The study examined whether the sex of older siblings influences the gender role development of younger brothers and sisters of age 3 years. Data on the Pre-School Activities Inventory, a measure of gender role behavior that discriminates within as well as between the sexes, were obtained in a general population study for 527 girls and 582 boys with an older sister, 500 girls and 561 boys with an older brother, and 1665 singleton girls and 1707 singleton boys. It was found that boys with older brothers and girls with older sisters were more sex-typed than same-sex singletons who, in turn, were more sex-typed than children with other-sex siblings. Having an older brother was associated with more masculine and less feminine behavior in both boys and girls, whereas boys with older sisters were more feminine but not less masculine and girls with older sisters were less masculine but not more feminine.     

The stability and consequences of young children's same-sex peer interactions

This article addresses whether young children's play-partner choices are stable over time and how these choices influence behavior. Sixty-one children (28 boys and 33 girls; mean age = 53 months) were observed over 6 months, and type of play behavior and sex of play partners were recorded. Children's partner preferences were highly sex differentiated and stable over time, especially when larger aggregates of data were used. Two types of consequences were identified: a binary effect that influenced differences between the sexes and a social dosage effect that influenced variations within the sexes. The binary effect reflected a pattern in which the more both girls and boys played with same-sex partners, the more their behavior became sex differentiated. The social dosage effect reflected a pattern in which variations in levels of same-sex play in the fall contributed significantly to variations in the spring above initial levels of the target behaviors.     

Correlations between speakers' body size and acoustic parameters of voice

Generally, there is a significant relationship between some acoustic measures (F0 and formant parameters) and the body size of speakers; however, data become less clear when age and sex variables are controlled. To date, no other vocal parameter apart from F0 has been studied in relation to body size. In the present study, correlations between a set of 27 parameters of the Multi-dimensional Voice Program (Kay Elemetrics Corp.) and 4 body measures were obtained from 134 speakers of both sexes belonging to one age group (20-29 years). Correlations within sex groups were null or very weak, and all significant coefficients were below .35.     

Fetal Testosterone,Socio‐Emotional Engagement and Language Development

The present study investigated the relations among fetal testosterone, child socio‐emotional engagement and language development in a sample of 467 children (235 boys) from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Bioavailable testosterone concentration measured in umbilical cord blood taken at birth was found to be significantly negatively correlated with socio‐emotional engagement and vocabulary development for boys but not for girls. Socio‐emotional engagement mediated the effect of boys' fetal testosterone levels on their vocabulary development. However, the size of the effects was small, and fetal testosterone and socio‐emotional engagement were no longer significant predictors of boys' vocabulary scores after accounting for the effects of other predictors including maternal age and education, parity, and parent–child book reading. It is concluded that further research into these associations is warranted in both typical and atypical development and that this research would profit from including a broader focus on the role that proximal processes such as socio‐emotional engagement, joint attention and imitation have in mediating the developmental effects of prenatal factors such as fetal testosterone exposure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predictors of early vocabulary growth in children born preterm and full term: A study of processing speed and medical complications

Delays in expressive vocabulary may be harbingers of long-term language difficulties. In toddlers born full term (FT), individual differences in language processing speed are associated with variation in expressive vocabulary growth. Children born preterm (PT) are at increased risk for persistent language deficits. Here, we evaluate predictors of early vocabulary growth in PT toddlers in relation to two sources of variability: language processing speed and medical complications of prematurity. Vocabulary growth from 16 to 30 months (adjusted for degree of prematurity) was modeled longitudinally using parent reports in English-speaking FT (n = 63; ≥37 weeks, ≥2495 g) and PT (n = 69; ≤32 weeks, <1800 g) children, matched on sex and socioeconomic status. Children were tested in the “looking-while-listening task” at 18 months to derive a measure of language processing speed. Each PT child was assessed for number of medical complications (13 maximum), based on medical chart reviews. PT and FT children displayed similar vocabulary trajectories; however, birth group disparities began to emerge by 30 months. PT children were slower in language processing speed than FT children. Critically, language processing speed predicted expressive vocabulary size at 30 months; interactions with birth group were not significant (all p > .20). In PT children, faster language processing speed predicted stronger outcomes regardless of number of medical complications; slower processing speed and more medical complications predicted poorer outcomes. Faster processing speed reflected favorable neuropsychological processes associated with faster expressive vocabulary growth that overrode the impact of medical complications on language outcomes in PT children.     

Early vocabulary development: Relationships with prelinguistic skills and early social-emotional/behavioral problems and competencies

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate early vocabulary development and its relationships with prelinguistic communication skills and social-emotional/behavioral (SEB¹) problems and competencies. The participants were 58 healthy Finnish-speaking children (30 girls, 28 boys). First, the concurrent relationships were investigated at the age of 18 months. Second, the relationships between prelinguistic communication skills and SEB problems and competencies at 18 months, and subsequent vocabulary scores at 24 and 30 months, were examined. Parental reports on early vocabulary (MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories; MCDI), prelinguistic communication skills (The Infant-Toddler Checklist of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile; ITC), SEB problems and competencies (Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment; BITSEA) were gathered. Compared to boys, girls scored significantly higher on ITC Speech Composite at 18 months and expressive vocabulary measures at 18, 24, and 30 months. Vocabulary, as well as prelinguistic communication measures, correlated with SEB competencies at 18 months. Furthermore, vocabulary, as well as ITC Symbolic Composite and Total Score, correlated negatively with externalizing problem and SEB Total Problem scores. With regard to subsequent vocabulary development, all of the prelinguistic communication measures at 18 months correlated with vocabulary at 24 and 30 months. However, when accounted for gender and earlier vocabulary, only the associations with ITC Speech Composite and Total Score at 24 months remained significant. SEB Competencies at 18 months correlated positively, while externalizing problems at 18 months correlated negatively with vocabulary at 24 and 30 months, however, these associations did not remain significant, when accounted for gender and earlier vocabulary.     

Sex Role Expectations in Children's Vocational Aspirations and Perceptions of Occupations

To study sex role expectations, 120 boys and girls from three age groups—preschool, second grade, and fifth grade—in two socioeconomic levels were asked to name their vocational aspirations and to choose whether a man, woman, or both could do the work in 30 occupations depicted in a slide-tape series. Results indicated that sex typing was present in the way their aspirations conformed to traditional sex roles, with a significant relationship (p <.001) between sex typing of aspirations and sex of the respondents. Significant differences in responses to the occupational slides were found on the variables of sex (p <.01), grade level (p <.001), and socioeconomic level (p <.05), with greater sex typing indicated by boys than girls, by preschool children than by older children, and by lower to lower-middle class children than by middle to upper-middle class children. The study revealed a disparity between many children's perceptions of occupations as ones in which both sexes could work and their own personalized, sex-typed aspirations.     

Contributions of school classification,sex, and ethnic status to adaptive behavior assessment

This study investigated the contributions of school classification (regular, EMR) and sex and ethnic status to domain scores from the Public School Version of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale. For this investigation data were available from a sample of more than 1,600 regular and EMR subjects approximately equally distributed between the sexes among white, black, and Spanish-background subjects from ages 7 to 13. The results replicated earlier findings that domain scores were valid for differentiating among children of different adaptive behavior levels as inferred from school classification status. Ethnic status was not a unique contributor to Part One domain scores when the effects of classification were accounted for. On the Part Two domains, ethnic status was a significant contributor to some domain scores, but not at all age levels. Similarly, sex made few unique contributions to domain scores on Part One of the Scale, but it was a significant factor on some domains of Part Two at some age levels.the author concluded that the Scale was valid for differentiating among pupils assigned to regular and EMR classes from ages 7 to 12. The failure of sex and ethnic status to make contributions to Part One domain scores suggests that there are common expectancies for personal independence and responsibility between boys and girls from different ethnic groups.From the analysis of the contributions of sex and ethnic status to the Part Two domains, the author inferred that difference in environmental tolerance for affective or emotional responses to the school or community environment was a more reasonable explanation than the inference that girls and boys or children grom different cultural backgrounds were inherently different with respect to these behaviors. The Public School Version of the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale is valid for assessing adaptive behavior of children in public school and relatively independent of effects attributable to sex or ethnic status.     

Relating early child adjustment to infant and parent temperament

The central question at issue was the role of both infant and parent temperament in determining child adjustment at age 4. Within the conceptual framework of the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS), both infant and parent temperament were assessed. Factor analyses yielded three comparable infant and parent temperament factors: Mood, Energy, and Consistency. Correlations with teacher ratings of child adjustment indicated the most significant relationship to be with the infant girls' Mood factor (comparable to the NYLS high-risk "difficult" infant factor). No infant factors were found to relate to boys' adjustment, while maternal Mood was significant across sexes. Indices of the temperamental similarity within families also revealed sex differences relative to adjustment, with similarity across all family members significantly related to adjustment for girls and boy-father dissimilarity significant for boys. Discussion centered around continuity-discontinuity issues relevant to sex differences.     

Associations Between Multiple Types of Stress and Disordered Eating Among Girls and Boys in Middle School

Stress is common during adolescence, yet no known studies have linked particular types of stress (performance, relationship, education, financial, and family) with disordered eating among adolescents in middle school. The present study investigated sex differences in types of stress and how multiple types of stress were associated with girls’ and boys’ body dissatisfaction, dieting behaviors, and bulimic symptoms. We found that girls reported higher levels of stress than boys and that different associations between stress and disordered eating existed for girls and boys. We also examined a path model for both sexes such that stress first led to body dissatisfaction, which then led to dieting and finally bulimic symptoms. Our model was supported for girls with performance, relationship, and family stress driving the process. For boys, all five types of stress were associated with body dissatisfaction, which was linked with dieting; however, the relation between dieting and bulimic symptoms was not significant. Future research and therapy should focus on the unique experiences of each sex in order to gain a better understanding of the processes involved in coping with stress and promoting healthy development.     

Aggression, conflict resolution, popularity, and attitude to school in Russian adolescents

The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of aggression and conflict-managing skills on popularity and attitude to school in Russian adolescents. Three types of aggression (physical, verbal, and indirect), constructive conflict resolution, third-party intervention, withdrawal, and victimization were examined using the Peer-Estimated Conflict Behavior (PECOBE) inventory [Bjorkquist and Osterman, 1998]. Also, all respondents rated peer and self-popularity with same-sex classmates and personal attitude to school. The sample consisted of 212 Russian adolescents (101 boys, 111 girls) aged between 11 and 15 years. The findings attest to significant sex differences in aggression and conflict resolution patterns. Boys scored higher on physical and verbal aggression, and girls on indirect aggression. Girls were socially more skillful than boys in the use of peaceful means of conflict resolution (they scored higher on constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention). The attributional discrepancy index (ADI) scores were negative for all three types of aggression in both sexes. Verbal aggression is apparently more condemned in boys than in girls. ADI scores were positive for constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention in both genders, being higher in boys. In girls, verbal aggression was positively correlated with popularity. In both sexes, popularity showed a positive correlation with constructive conflict resolution and third-party intervention, and a negative correlation with withdrawal and victimization. Boys who liked school were popular with same-sex peers and scored higher on constructive conflict resolution. Girls who liked school were less aggressive according to peer rating. They also rated higher on conflict resolution and third-party intervention. Physical aggression was related to age. The results are discussed in a cross-cultural perspective.     

Physical aggression and expressive vocabulary in 19-month-old twins

In the prevention of physical aggression, possible etiological links with language development are rarely taken into account. Indeed, little is known about when language and aggressive behavior become linked during development and which mechanisms are responsible for this association. This study investigated the association between physical aggression and language in late infancy with a genetic design that involved 562 19-month-old twins. A modest but significant correlation (r = -.20) was found between physical aggression and expressive vocabulary. Substantial heritability was found for physical aggression. Quantitative genetic modeling suggests that the correlation between expressive vocabulary and physical aggression cannot be explained by shared etiologies. However, phenotype-to-phenotype models indicate that the covariation can be entirely accounted for by a significant phenotypic path from expressive vocabulary to physical aggression. The implications of these results for early prevention of chronic physical aggression are discussed.     

Trends and monthly variations in the historical record of suicide in Japan from 1976 to 1994

Monthly suicide rates in Japan were analyzed for the period from 1976 to 1994 to clarify trends and recurring effects. The data were separated by sex, and the least-squares method was used. The major findings were (1) a significant positive correlation between unemployment rate and suicide rate for both sexes, (2) the suicide rate was highest in April for both sexes, and (3) an upsurge in male suicide mortality was noted from 1983 to 1990. These findings may well be associated with socioeconomic factors as well as neurobehavioral variables.     

Effects of Contrived information of Female and Male Performance on the Achievement Behavior of Preschool Girls and Boys1

Twenty-four girls and 24 boys enrolled in a university preschool were given two trials each to perform a marble-dropping task. After the first trial, subjects in the sex-appropriate condition were told that children of their sex perform the task better than children of the opposite sex. Subjects in the sex-inappropriate condition were told that children of their sex perform the task less well than children of the opposite sex. It was hypothesized that sex-appropriate subjects would set higher goals for Trial 2 than control subjects receiving no information and that sex-inappropriate subjects would set lower goals than control subjects. The hypotheses were not supported. Instead, children of both sexes set significantly higher goals when told that boys do better at the task. Interpretations of the results are offered.     

Psychological problems and associated factors at 6 years of age: differences between sexes

In a non-clinical group of 130 children (65 boys and 65 girls), we evaluated the relationships between psychological problems using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) reported by parents, the Inattention Overactivity With Aggression (IOWA) scale reported by teachers, individual factors (Intellectual quotient [IQ], temperament and heart rate) and environmental factors (stress events, mother's profession and being or not being an only child). We found no differences between the sexes in the prevalence of total psychological problems in the clinical range, but girls had significantly more borderline total problems than boys. Girls tended to have more externalizing problems than boys. In boys, there were more links between individual and environmental factors and psychological problems, especially externalizing problems. A high score in psychological problems assessed by the CBCL affected the school performance of boys and the social performance of girls. For boys, IQ was significantly lower when the score for total behavioral problems was higher, and for girls IQ was significantly lower when the score for externalizing problems was higher. Understanding the different levels of vulnerability of the sexes at different periods of development may help to improve the treatment children in this age group receive.     

Behavior at 10 and 13 years of age for children with low birth weight

This study was based on data from a longitudinal research program. The cohort consisted of 874 normal children in an entire school grade in a Swedish community. The aim of the study was to investigate the relation between birth weight and behavior at school, for all children and for each sex separately. The results identified specific aspects of behaviour disorder significantly related to low birth weight (LBW) for children at the age of 10 but not at the age of 13. When the sexes were separated, there were no relations between birth weight and deviant behaviour for boys of low birth weight as compared to boys of normal birth weight, while girls of low birth weight showed specific behavioural disorders at age 10 as compared to girls of normal birth weight. For girls reared in families of low parental socioeconomic status, aggressiveness and motor restlessness at age 10 but not at age 13 was also present. Further analyses showed that girls born small-for-gestational age showed lack of school motivation and concentration difficulties both at age 10 and age 13.     

Development of sex biases in children: 40 years later

Children in grades 2–10 (200 of each sex) assigned desirable and undesirable traits to girls or boys. Half the subjects had an additional option of both sexes. Children in all grades assigned more desirable traits to their own sex and more undesirable traits to the opposite sex, in line with Smith (1939). Both sexes became less positive toward their own sex and more positive toward the opposite sex with increasing age. This pattern also had characterized girls in Smith's study, whereas, boys had shown the opposite pattern. Beginning in the sixth grade, girls were more apt than boys to assign desirable traits to their own sex. Availability of the “both sexes” option decreased stereotyping, especially in girls.     

Response variations to Stroop color-word stimuli

Reaction times (RTs) and net interference measures were obtained for 64 Stroop color-word stimuli from 8 common colors. Subjects were 64 college students, 32 of each sex. The incongruous stimulus was designated as either the ink interpretation different from the word or the word interpretation different from the ink. Consistently large variations within Stroop stimuli and Word x Ink interactions were found. Complex qualitative and quantitative differences were revealed between sexes. Females had faster RTs, but showed no significant superiority in measured net interference. The derived rank orders of net interference between sexes were correlated when using the ink, but not when using the word. Neither word nor ink were related in ranking RTs. For net interference, however, derived RTs were highly related for women using the ink interpretation, but not when using the word; they were unrelated for men using either interpretation. Two interrference types were highly correlated for women, but not for men. An additional experiment with a color-blind group cast an interesting light on the issue. Our Stroop data, rank ordered by sex for each measure, may assist viable theory constructions, including the context-dependent interaction hypothesis.     

Self-Ratings and Projected Ratings of Sex Role Attitudes

To ascertain the veridicality of projected attitudes toward sex role behavior, 74 male and 74 female undergraduates filled out the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) using three different targets: self, typical female classmate, and typical male classmate. Analyses of variance on respondents' total AWS scores and on the six AWS subscale scores showed significant interactions between sex of respondent and sex of target for all seven variables. Since the directions of the interactions were not consistent across subscales, the results indicated the methodological necessity of using measurements which examine a variety of specific subclasses of sex role behaviors (rather than using unidimensional scale or total test scores) when stereotypic sex role attitudes are sought. In general, both sexes were found to have a fairly accurate perception of women's attitudes, but both sexes consistently perceived the typical male as more conservative than the male self-ratings justified.