Fathers’ personality and its interaction with children’s personality as predictors of perceived parenting behavior six years later

We investigated fathers’ personality and its interaction with children’s personality as predictors of adolescent perceived parenting behavior. Data were used from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality and Development including 353 children. At Time 1 fathers rated their personality whereas teachers rated the child’s personality. Six years later, adolescents rated their fathers’ parenting. Higher levels of paternal Emotional Stability were associated with less perceived overreactive and more positive parenting behaviors only when children were high on Extraversion, Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Imagination. This study is of theoretical interest because the results demonstrate that different forms of parenting are associated with goodness-of-fit relations between parent and child personality and that these relations are different for negative and positive parenting.     

Establishing construct validity for Openness-to-Experience in middle childhood: Contributions from personality and temperament

Controversy exists over the validity of child Openness-to-Experience (OE). To establish construct validity for child OE, data were collected for 346 children (51% girls) aged 9-to-10-years (M = 9.92, SD = 0.83). Parents completed questionnaires about their children’s personality, temperament, and behavioral problems and competencies. Factor analyses of relevant personality and temperament facets revealed a robust OE factor made up of three facets: Intellect, Imagination, and Sensitivity. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was established via associations with other personality traits, and behavioral problems and competencies. Results underscore the importance of drawing from both temperament and personality literatures in attempts to establish construct validity for child trait domains as well as examining facet-level associations between OE and child behavior.     

Cognitive vulnerability to depression during middle childhood: Stability and associations with maternal affective styles and parental depression

Theories of cognitive vulnerability to depression (CVD) imply that CVD is early-emerging and trait-like; however, little longitudinal work has tested this premise in middle childhood, or examined theoretically relevant predictors of child CVD. We examined test–retest correlations of self-referent encoding task performance and self-reported attributional styles and their associations with parental characteristics in 205 seven-year-olds. At baseline, child CVD was assessed, structured clinical interviews were conducted with parents, and ratings of observed maternal affective styles were made. Children’s CVD was re-assessed approximately one and two years later. Both measures of children’s CVD were prospectively and concurrently associated with children’s depressive symptoms and showed modest stability. Multilevel modeling indicated that maternal criticism and paternal depression were related to children’s CVD. Findings indicate that even early-emerging CVD is a valid marker of children’s depression risk.     

幼儿气质、教师期望和同伴接纳对自我控制的影响

通过对684名3-5岁幼儿进行同伴提名和问卷测量,考察气质、教师期望和同伴接纳对自我控制的影响,结果发现：（1）气质、教师期望和同伴接纳各维度不同程度地预测幼儿自我控制。（2）气质、同伴接纳、教师期望交互作用于自我控制,其中同伴接纳是有调节的中介变量,其既是气质反应性、专注性和教师对幼儿日常习惯期望影响自我控制的部分中介变量,又同时受到气质情绪性的调节。（3）社会抑制性与教师对幼儿人际互动的期望交互作用于自我控制。     

What coping tells about personality

In this study, 123 participants (non‐psychology students) who responded to an interpersonal stress situation staged in the laboratory were judged by unacquainted observers in terms of the Big Five dimensions, intelligence and social attractiveness. Coping behaviour appeared to predict personality impressions in a way that mirrors the relations between personality and coping observed in previous research: Overall, higher levels of Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C) and Openness to experience (O) (as well as intelligence and social attractiveness) were predicted by problem‐focussed behaviour and cognitive restructuring, whereas higher levels of Neuroticism (N) were predicted by withdrawal/passivity. The interpersonal impact of the particular coping reactions, as indicated by a positive personality impression, were largely inconsistent with their impact on affect following the stress induction. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual differences in children's mathematical competence are related to the intentional but not automatic processing of Arabic numerals

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the role played by basic numerical magnitude processing in the typical and atypical development of mathematical skills. In this context, tasks measuring both the intentional and automatic processing of numerical magnitude have been employed to characterize how children’s representation and processing of numerical magnitude changes over developmental time. To date, however, there has been little effort to differentiate between different measures of ‘number sense’. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between automatic and intentional measures of magnitude processing as well as their relationships to individual differences in children’s mathematical achievement. A group of 119 children in 1st and 2nd grade were tested on the physical size congruity paradigm (automatic processing) as well as the number comparison paradigm to measure the ratio effect (intentional processing). The results reveal that measures of intentional and automatic processing are uncorrelated with one another, suggesting that these tasks tap into different levels of numerical magnitude processing in children. Furthermore, while children’s performance on the number comparison paradigm was found to correlate with their mathematical achievement scores, no such correlations could be obtained for any of the measures typically derived from the physical size congruity task. These findings therefore suggest that different tasks measuring ‘number sense’ tap into different levels of numerical magnitude representation that may be unrelated to one another and have differential predictive power for individual differences in mathematical achievement.     

Relation of employee and manager emotional intelligence to job satisfaction and performance

This study examined the relationships among employees’ emotional intelligence, their manager’s emotional intelligence, employees’ job satisfaction, and performance for 187 food service employees from nine different locations of the same restaurant franchise. We predicted and found that employees’ emotional intelligence was positively associated with job satisfaction and performance. In addition, manager’s emotional intelligence had a more positive correlation with job satisfaction for employees with low emotional intelligence than for those with high emotional intelligence. These findings remain significant after controlling for personality factors. A similar pattern was found for job performance; however, the effect did not meet traditional standards of significance. Applied implications of the results are discussed.     

同伴拒绝、同伴接纳与农村留守儿童的心理适应：亲子亲合与逆境信念的作用*

以424名农村儿童为被试,基于留守儿童和非留守儿童之间的比较,在同伴关系的背景下探讨了亲子亲合与个体逆境信念对儿童攻击、学业违纪与孤独感的作用。结果表明：(1)同伴拒绝能显著增加儿童的攻击、学业违纪与孤独感,同伴接纳则显著降低儿童的学业违纪与孤独感,亲子亲合、积极的逆境信念能够显著降低儿童的孤独感;(2)亲子亲合对同伴拒绝与儿童攻击、学业违纪之间关系的调节效应在双亲外出儿童与非留守儿童群体中存在差异：高亲合条件下,同伴拒绝与非留守儿童的攻击、学业违纪之间存在显著关联,但是在双亲外出儿童中,这些关联不再显著;(3)亲子亲合能够调节同伴接纳与儿童孤独感之间的关系：在低亲合条件下,同伴接纳能够显著降低儿童的孤独感,但是二者在高亲合条件下不再存在关联。结果提示,农村留守儿童与父母间的紧密情感联结对于促进其心理适应具有保护作用,同伴接纳对儿童的亲情缺失具有补偿作用。     

Relationship between Cattell’s 16PF and fluid and crystallized intelligence

The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between the five global factors and 16 dimensions of Cattell’s personality model and fluid and crystallized intelligence. A total of 105 third graders (45.7% males) of three high schools participated in the research. Fluid intelligence was measured by Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices and crystallized intelligence was measured by the Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale. Personality traits were measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. Anxiety is correlated neither with fluid nor with crystallized intelligence. Extraversion and Self-Control are negatively correlated with fluid intelligence whereas Tough-Mindedness is positively correlated with it. Independence is positively correlated with crystallized intelligence and Tough-Mindedness is negatively correlated with it. Regression analysis reveals that all broad personality factors, except anxiety, are significant predictors of fluid intelligence. When combined together, these factors account for 25% of the variance of fluid intelligence scores. The regression model with crystallized intelligence as a criterion variable is not statistically significant. The study results are consistent with the Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham’s (2005) two-level conceptual framework. Although using a different taxonomy of personality, the results are in accordance with the model’s presuppositions.     

Children’s lies and their detection: Implications for child witness testimony

The veracity of child witness testimony is central to the justice system where there are serious consequences for the child, the accused, and society. Thus, it is important to examine how children’s lie-telling abilities develop and the factors that can influence their truthfulness. The current review examines children’s lie-telling ability in relation to child witness testimony. Although research demonstrates that children develop the ability to lie at an early age, they also understand that lie-telling is morally unacceptable and do not condone most types of lies. Children’s ability to lie effectively develops with age and is related to their increasing cognitive sophistication. However, even children’s early lies can be difficult to detect. Greater lie elaboration requires greater skill and children’s ability to lie effectively improves with development and as a function of cognitive skill. Different methods of promoting children’s truthful reports as well as the social and motivational factors that affect children’s honesty will be discussed.     

Concept-procedure interactions in children's addition and subtraction

A 3-week problem-solving practice phase was used to investigate concept-procedure interactions in children’s addition and subtraction. A total of 72 7- and 8-year-olds completed a pretest and posttest in which their accuracy and procedures on randomly ordered problems were recorded along with their reports of using concept-based relations in problem solving and their conceptual explanations. The results revealed that conceptual sequencing of practice problems enhances children’s ability to extend their procedural learning to new unpracticed problems. They also showed that well-structured procedural practice leads to improvement in children’s ability to verbalize key concepts. Moreover, children’s conceptual advances were predicted by their initial procedural skills. These results support an iterative account of the development of basic concepts and key skills in children’s addition and subtraction.     

The relations between children's communicative perspective-taking and executive functioning

Two experiments investigated children’s communicative perspective-taking ability. In Experiment 1, 4- to 5-year-old children were tested on two referential communication tasks, as well as on measures of inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Results document children’s emergent use of the perspective of their speaking partner to guide their communicative behaviors in both a production and comprehension task. In Experiment 2, 3- to 4-year-old children used a speaker’s perspective to guide their interpretation of instructions. In both experiments, egocentric interpretations of speaker requests were negatively correlated with children’s inhibitory control skills. Results of these studies demonstrate that young children can differentiate between information that is accessible to the speaker versus privileged knowledge, and use this information to guide their communicative behaviors. Furthermore, the results suggest that children’s inhibitory control skills allow them to inhibit their own perspective, enabling them to make use of their communicative partner’s perspective.     

Understanding children's emotional processes and behavioral strategies in the context of marital conflict

Marital conflict is a distressing context in which children must regulate their emotion and behavior; however, the associations between the multidimensionality of conflict and children’s regulatory processes need to be examined. The current study examined differences in children’s (N = 207, mean age = 8.02 years) emotions (mad, sad, scared, and happy) and behavioral strategies to regulate conflict exposure during resolved, unresolved, escalating, and child-rearing marital conflict vignettes. Children’s cortisol levels were assessed in relation to child-rearing and resolved conflict vignettes. Anger and sadness were associated with escalating and child-rearing conflicts, fearfulness was related to escalating and unresolved conflicts, and happiness was associated with resolution. Anger was associated with children’s strategies to stop conflict, whereas sadness was associated with monitoring and avoidant strategies. Cortisol recovery moderated the link between fearfulness and behavioral regulation. These results highlight the importance of children’s emotions and regulatory processes in understanding the impact of marital conflict.     

Parents' education and children's achievement: The role of personality

The reasons for the positive association between families' background variables, such as parents' education, and children's academic achievement have not fully been clarified yet. The present study investigates children's intelligence and personality as potential mediators. A sample of 580 German high school students (mean age: M = 17.0; SD = 0.7) indicated the highest education of their parents and completed measures assessing their own personality and intelligence. Children's academic achievement was operationalized by grade point average. Children's intelligence, openness to experience and, marginally, conscientiousness partially mediated the association between parents' education and children's academic achievement. Even after controlling for children's intelligence, the mediating effects of those personality traits held. Results are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relations between mental verb and false belief understanding in Cantonese-speaking children

Previous research has shown that linguistic forms that codify mental contents bear a specific relation with children’s false belief understanding. These forms include mental verbs and their following complements, yet the two have not been considered separately. The current study examined the roles of mental verb semantics and the complement syntax in children’s false belief understanding. Independent tasks were used to measure verb meaning, complements, and false belief understanding such that the verbs in question were present only in the verb meaning test, and no linguistic devices biased toward false belief were used in the false belief test. We focused on (a) some mental verbs that obligatorily affirm or negate what follows and (b) sentential complements, the content of which is to be evaluated against the mind of another person, not reality. Results showed that only (a) predicted false belief understanding in a group of Cantonese-speaking 4-year-olds, controlling for nonverbal intelligence and general language ability. In particular, children’s understanding of the strong nonfactive semantics of the Cantonese verbs /ji5-wai4/ (“falsely think”) predicted false belief understanding most strongly. The current findings suggest that false belief understanding is specifically related to the comprehension of mental verbs that entail false thought in their semantics.     

Intelligence and teachers' ratings as predictors of abstract and concrete learning

This study concerned the prediction of children's learning with an individual measure of intelligence and teachers' evaluations. Eight abstract and eight concrete nouns were paired with nonsense geometric figures and presented to 60 elementary school children in a three-trial paired-associate (PA) learning task. Subjects' IQ scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and teachers' ratings of learning proficiency were used to predict children's performance on the PA task. Multiple correlations favored abstract learning with verbal scale intelligence, accounting for the majority of the variability. Teachers' ratings provided a surprising degree of predictive efficiency for abstract recall which was redundant with verbal intelligence.     

A general factor of personality,social desirability,cognitive ability,and the survey of work styles in an employment selection setting

How a general factor of personality (GFP) correlated with employment screening measures in an applied setting was examined. Participants were 540 adult insurance sales job applicants who completed scales from two personality measures, the five scales from the Survey of Work Styles (SWS), an intelligence measure, and a social desirability scale. A joint factor analysis of the personality questionnaires produced four first order factors. A single GFP was also extracted. Strong correlations were found between some of the personality factors and the SWS scales. Strong significant correlations were found between the GFP and three of the four personality factors with social desirability. Neither the GFP nor the personality factors correlated significantly with cognitive abilities.     

More is more: The relationship between vocabulary size and word extension

This study experimentally tested the relationship between children’s lexicon size and their ability to learn new words within the domain of color. We manipulated the size of 25 20-month-olds’ color lexicons by training them with two, four, or six different color words over the course of eight training sessions. We subsequently tested children’s ability to extend new color words to new instances. We found that training with a broader number of color words led to increased extension of new words. The results suggest that children’s learning history predicts their ability to learn new words within domains.     

人格分化的智力假设

人格与智力是个体差异中相互关联的两个重要方面,人格随智力水平的提高而不断分化,智力影响了特定人格维度之间的相关。尽管人格分化的智力假设尚未获得一致性的证据,但它却暗示了智力对人格结构的潜在影响。由于人格测量工具的信度和效度可能因受测者的能力水平而异,因此未来的研究应在使用统一测量工具的基础上,尽量扩大被试的能力范围,采用多重评估或集合评定的方法,使人格测量真正独立于受测者的认知能力。