Peer ratings of depression,anxiety, and aggression in inpatient and elementary school children: Rating biases and influence of rater's self-reported depression,anxiety, and aggression

Using parallel self-, peer, and teacher rating scales, several rating biases in children's peer ratings of depression, anxiety, and aggression were examined. Participants were 66 inpatient and 133 elementary school children (N = 199, 109 boys, 90 girls; 61% white, 39% black) aged 8 to 12, and their teachers. Results showed significant halo bias in both the children's peer ratings and the teachers' ratings. Children's self-reports on each of the three traits were significantly related to their peer ratings of the same trait, while adjusting for socioeconomic status and the peers' teachers' ratings of the same trait. Children who rated themselves as high on each trait rated their peers significantly higher on the same trait than children who rated themselves as medium or low; and for depression and anxiety, those who rated themselves as medium rated their peers significantly higher on those traits than those who rated themselves as low. For both depression and aggression, children's self-reports on the trait were significantly related to their peer ratings of the same trait, but not significantly related to their peer ratings of different traits. Disagreements between children's and teachers' ratings of the peers on all three traits were significantly related to child self-reports on each trait, indicating a possible distortion in children's peer ratings due to self-report. The implications of the results for both peer and others' assessments are discussed, and further investigation of rating biases in other informants' assessments is encouraged.These data were collected as part of the author's doctoral dissertation submitted to Memphis State University. Appreciation is expressed to Stacey Donegan for assistance with the literature review for an earlier version of this paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, March 1993.     

Temperamental surgency and emotion regulation as predictors of childhood social competence

The primary aims of the current study were to longitudinally examine the direct relationship between children's temperamental surgency and social behaviors as well as the moderating role of children's emotion regulation. A total of 90 4.5-year-old children participated in a laboratory visit where children's temperamental surgency was rated by experimenters and children's emotion regulation abilities were assessed. The summer before entry into first grade, children's social behaviors with unfamiliar peers were observed in the laboratory and mothers completed a questionnaire about children's social behaviors. Supporting our hypotheses, results revealed that children high in temperamental surgency developed more negative peer behaviors, whereas children low in temperamental surgency were more likely to develop behavioral wariness with peers. Emotion regulatory behaviors were found to moderate the relation between temperamental surgency and aggression, where high-surgent children who showed high levels of social support seeking were less likely to be rated by their mothers as high in aggression. Furthermore, results revealed that low-surgent children who showed high levels of distraction/self-soothing were more likely to show behavioral wariness around unfamiliar peers, whereas high-surgent children who used more distraction/self-soothing behaviors were rated by their mothers as lower in social competence.     

Negatively biased recall in children with self-reported symptoms of depression

This study investigated differences in depressed and nondepressed children's recall of positively and negatively reinforced behavior. Twenty-six children with self-reported symptoms of depression in the fourth through sixth grades were compared with a matched sample of 26 nondepressed children to determine if there was a negative bias in depressed children's recall. Subjects first generated guesses of the most common associations to each of a series of 40 words. Later, when compared with their nondepressed peers, the children with depressive symptomology were less accurate in recalling which words they had answered correctly and remembered fewer of their own correct responses. They also did more poorly when asked to recall the correct answers that had been provided by the investigator. The two groups did not differ, however, in their recall of which items had been answered incorrectly or in their recall of their previous wrong responses. These results suggest that children with self-reported depressive symptomology do not remember negative experiences more than do nondepressed children; rather, they recall positive experiences less well. Selective forgetting of positively reinforced behavior could be a serious handicap for depressed children in school. It could also play an important role in the maintenance and perhaps even the etiology of depressive symptomatology in children.We wish to thank Bruce Compas for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Parental values, reinforcement, and young children's prosocial behavior: a longitudinal study.

In this study, the authors assessed the relation of parental reinforcement and parental values to young children's prosocial behaviors. Parents' dyadic interactions with their 1- to 2-year-old children were videotaped in the home on two occasions approximately 6 months apart. The children also were videotaped playing with a peer at 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years of age. Parental reinforcement of the children's prosocial behaviors was coded, as were the children's prosocial behaviors with the peer. The frequency of girls' spontaneous prosocial behaviors decreased in the early years; modest consistency was observed for boys (but not girls) across the two parental sessions. No relation existed between the frequency of children's prosocial behaviors with their parents and their behaviors with peers. Both maternal and paternal valuing of compliance were negatively related to the mothers' use of reinforcement for children's spontaneous prosocial behaviors. Parental reinforcement of compliant prosocial behaviors was negatively related to children's compliance with a peer's request for prosocial behavior and positively related to defensive behavior with the peer. Fathers' valuing of prosocial behavior was associated with children's compliance with the peer's requests for prosocial action. Parents who valued compliance had children who exhibited low levels of compliant prosocial behaviors with the peer, possibly because of the depressed level of peer interaction.     

Peer interaction in child care centres at 15 and 23 months: stability and links with children's socio-emotional adjustment

In this longitudinal study, 70 children were observed during 90 min of free play in their child care centres at 15 and 23 months of age. The children (39 boys and 31 girls) attended 51 different care groups in 39 centres. The occurrence and stability of peer interactions in the second year of life and their relations to children's socio-emotional adjustment were examined. The frequency of children's negative initiatives towards peers showed significant inter-individual stability from 15 to 23 months and predicted child aggressive/disruptive behaviour at 23 months as rated by professional caregivers in child care. Involvement in positive interactions with peers, and particularly positive responses to peer behaviours at 15 months, predicted well-being in child care at 23 months as rated by professional caregivers. The frequency of negative initiatives towards peers significantly increased and the frequency of positive responses to peer behaviours significantly decreased from 15 to 23 months.     

Developmentally delayed children's influence attempts with mothers predict interactions with peers over time

We examined whether influence attempts of 4–6 year-old children with mild developmental delays occurring when interacting with their mothers predicted children's interactions with peers two years later. Hierarchical regressions controlling for relevant child characteristics and a measure of direct parental actions to influence their children's peer interactions revealed a consistent association between influence attempts with mothers and four important aspects of children's peer relationships: successful social bids to peers, initiations to peers, extent of involvement with peers, and overall level of peer interactions. Results were consistent with social communicative processes likely to emerge during children's influence attempts with mothers, which are relevant to peer relationships. The fact that influence attempts with mothers were associated with peer interactions over a time period when peers occupy a more dominant role in children's social relationships supports the role of indirect family influences as a potential intervention strategy to further the peer competence of children with delays.     

Students with Exceptionalities and the Peer Group Context of Bullying and Victimization in Late Elementary School

We examined bullying and victimization in 5th grade classrooms in relation to students’ education status and peer group membership. The sample consisted of 484 participants (258 girls, 226 boys), including 369 general education students, 74 academically gifted students, and 41 students with mild disabilities. Students with mild disabilities were more likely to be perceived as being bullies by both teachers and peers. Teachers also rated students with mild disabilities significantly higher for being bullied by peers. Academically gifted students were rated by teachers as the lowest for both bullying and being bullied. Associating with aggressive or perceived-popular peers increased the likelihood of being perceived as a bully. Social isolates were more likely to be bullied than students who did not associate with perceived-popular peers who, in turn, were more likely to be bullied than students who associated with perceived-popular peers. Students with mild disabilities who had aggressive and perceived-popular associates had more peer nominations for bullying than all others. In contrast, students in general education with neither aggressive nor perceived-popular associates had the fewest peer nominations for bullying. We discuss implications for research and intervention.     

The Moderating Role of Verbal Aggression on the Relationship Between Parental Feedback and Peer Status Among Children with ADHD

We examined associations between children's sociometric status and (a) observed parental feedback as well as (b) child aggression. Participants were 94 children ages 6-10 (64 male; 44 with ADHD) and their parents. Children's peer status, parental feedback to their children, and child aggression were all assessed during lab-based playgroups of four children and their parents. Parent criticism in front of the child's peers was associated with the child receiving more negative ("disliked") and fewer positive ("liked") nominations, but only for children who displayed aggression; this interaction applied almost exclusively to children with ADHD. Parent praise in front of peers was associated with fewer negative nominations when children displayed low levels of aggression, but more at higher levels. Additional analyses revealed that relationships did not exist in the full sample between privately-given parental feedback and children's peer status. Processes by which peers use overheard adult feedback to inform their assessments of children are discussed.     

童年晚期亲社会行为与儿童的心理社会适应

对2097名六年级儿童(平均年龄12.27岁, 男生1093名)的亲社会行为以及多种心理社会适应指标进行测量, 主要运用个体定向的方法考察童年晚期亲社会行为与儿童心理社会适应之间的关系。结果发现:(1)亲社会行为与孤独感、攻击等不良适应呈中等程度负相关, 与同伴接纳、社交自我概念等积极适应呈中等程度正相关;(2)童年晚期儿童的心理社会适应表现为内化问题、外化问题、同伴拒绝与正常发展4种模式;(3)个体亲社会行为水平越高, 越可能属于正常发展组, 越不可能属于不良适应组;在各种不良适应组中, 个体亲社会行为水平越高, 更可能属于内化问题组, 而非外化问题和同伴拒绝组;(4)高亲社会组的儿童有6.8%存在内化问题;低亲社会组的儿童有50.2%适应良好;与普通儿童相比, 低亲社会组的儿童表现出更多的适应不良。     

Preschoolers’ Anticipation of Sadness for Excluded Peers,Sympathy, and Prosocial Behavior

We investigated the relations between anticipation of sadness for excluded peers, sympathy, and prosocial behavior in a sample of 127 Italian preschoolers (M_age?=?4.84?years, SD?=?0.85). Children attributed emotions to hypothetical excluded peers who exhibited withdrawn versus aggressive behavior, and these attributions were coded for the presence and intensity of sadness. Teachers rated children’s sympathy and prosocial behavior via questionnaire. In general, children attributed more sadness to the withdrawn excluded peer than the aggressive excluded peer. A path analysis revealed that those who anticipated higher levels of sadness for the withdrawn excluded peer were rated higher in sympathy and, in turn, higher in prosocial behavior. Attributing high levels of sadness to withdrawn excluded peers—who portray relatively heightened need—may be an early social-emotional characteristic of children who are more sympathetic and more likely to channel other-oriented concerns into prosocial actions.     

幼儿同伴关系发展的稳定性

研究采用同伴提名法,从2004年到2008年对三个自然班幼儿(71名)群体水平的同伴关系分别在三个时间点开始从小班到大班的追踪,考察学前期幼儿同伴关系连续变量的稳定性,结果发现:(1)幼儿同伴接纳、同伴拒绝、社会偏好和社会影响的稳定性受年龄和时间间隔的影响,在中班与大班之间均存在中等相关,而社会偏好和同伴接纳在小班与中班也存在中等相关,社会偏好在小班与大班也存在中等相关;(2)幼儿社会偏好发展模式经聚类分析为4组:一般偏好稳定组、高偏好稳定组、一般到高偏好变化组和低偏好变化组,64.79%的幼儿社会偏好发展保持稳定;(3)幼儿从小班起,女孩比男孩一直更少受到同伴拒绝,更多受到同伴偏爱。总体而言,学前期幼儿同伴关系发展具有中等稳定性,中班是稳定性发展的重要时期。     

Child,mother, and father evaluations of depression in psychiatric inpatient children

The agreement among children and their parents in evaluating the children's depression was examined in 48 families. Newly admitted inpatient children (ages 6–13) and their mothers and fathers independently completed selfreport and interview measures to assess severity and duration of the children's depression. The results indicated that different measures of depression completed by the same rater (child, mother, or father) were highly intercorrelated. Yet there was little or no relationship between childmother and child-father ratings of the children's depression for the same or related measures of depression. Children independently diagnosed (DSM III) as depressed rated themselves and were rated by their parents as more depressed than nondepressed children. Even so, children consistently rated themselves as less depressed across the measures than did their parents. Parent ratings of the children's depression and the correspondence of child-parent ratings varied as a function of several child and family variables, including child IQ, gender, race, and family welfare status.This investigation was supported in part by a Research Scientist Development Award (1 K02 MH00353) to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health and by a Clinical Research Center Grant for the Study of Affective Disorders (5 P50 MH30915-05) from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors are grateful to the clinical research team of the Child Psychiatric Treatment Service.     

童年中后期儿童同伴接纳知觉准确性与偏差及其对社交退缩的影响

以小学三年级至六年级的儿童为被试,探讨同伴接纳知觉准确性的年级和性别差异,同时考察同伴接纳知觉准确性及偏差对社交退缩行为的预测作用。儿童完成同伴评定、知觉评定、社交自我知觉和班级戏剧量表。结果表明：（1）随着年级的升高,儿童的同伴接纳知觉越来越准确;儿童的同性同伴接纳知觉准确性不存在显著的性别差异;四年级男生的异性同伴接纳知觉准确性显著低于女生;（3）同伴接纳知觉准确性显著正向预测安静退缩和活跃退缩;同伴接纳知觉偏差显著负向预测安静退缩,但对活跃退缩不具有显著的预测效应。     

Defensiveness predicts peer rejection of depressed children

The present study examined the ironic possibility that defensiveness, far from suppressing depression and staving off negative interpersonal consequences, is actually associated with interpersonal difficulties (e.g. peer rejection). Participants were 72 youth psychiatric inpatients (aged 7-17 years, mean+/-SD 13.18+/-2.59 years), who completed self-report measures of defensiveness and depression. Chart diagnoses were available, and peer rejection ratings were collected. Results indicated that depressed children with a defensive style obtained the highest peer rejection ratings, other children, including depressed but non-defensive children, were not as negatively rated by peers. Implications regarding self-presentation and depression, as well as regarding clinical work with depressed people, were discussed.     

Characteristics of children who interact in groups or in dyads

Little research within the field of developmental or educational psychology has addressed teachers' perceptions of the characteristics of children who interact in different types of peer organizations. This study was designed to examine teachers' perceptions of the characteristics of boys and girls who interact in groups or in dyads. Participants (teachers and children) were recruited from 10 classes from all grade levels of 2 elementary schools. The children were asked to name those in their classes who played together frequently. On the basis of participants' responses, 2 categories of target children were identified: those who played with at least 3 other children (group) and those children who played with 1 other child (dyad). Two teachers then rated each target child on 6 characteristics. The results indicated that, compared with children who played in dyads, target children who played in groups were rated by teachers as being more competitive, receiving more attention from peers, valuing their friends more, and being more emotionally expressive. No differences were found between target children who played in groups or dyads in empathy or self-confidence. In addition, no interaction between sex and type of social organization was found for any of the measures. Results are discussed in terms of the relation between social organization and functions of peer relations.     

Sex typing in play and popularity in middle childhood

Sex differences in play behavior across the early elementary school years as well as the relation between sex-typed play and peer acceptance were examined. It was hypothesized that children who were more sex-typed in their play behaviors would be more accepted by their peers. The participants included 86 grade two children and 81 grade four children. Popularity was assessed using a rating scale sociometric measure. Sex-typed behaviors were measured by observing the children at free play. Results indicated significant age and gender differences in children's play behavior. Specifically, boys engaged in more aggressive and rough and tumble play as well as more functional, solitary-dramatic and exploratory play and tended to be involved more in group play, whereas girls produced more parallel and constructive play as well as more peer conversations. In grade 4, these differences were maximized such that boys produced more games-with-rules and girls exhibited more parallel-constructive activity. Second, results indicated that sociometric ratings and observed degree of sex-typing were not significantly related except in the case of fourth grade males. At the fourth grade level, a positive relation was observed between boys' acceptance by male peers and “masculine” or male-preferred play behavior as well as between boys' acceptance by female peers and “feminine” or female-preferred play.     

Peer Perceptions and Liking of Children with Anxiety Disorders

Examined three aspects of childhood anxiety and peer liking: (1) whether or not children can detect anxiety in age-mates, (2) the degree to which peer-reported anxiety, self-reported anxiety, and presence of anxiety disorders are associated with peer liking, and (3) whether or not self-reported anxiety and presence of anxiety disorders are associated with peer liking after controlling for peer-reported anxiety. Peer raters (9.5–12.5 years) rated videotaped speech samples of target children with anxiety disorders (AD; 9.5–13 years) and target children without anxiety disorders (NAD; 9.5–13 years). Peer-rated anxiety was positively correlated with target children’s self-reported anxiety and was higher among children with AD and children with social phobia (SP). Peer liking was inversely related to peer-reported anxiety and was lower for target children with SP. Target children with SP were liked less regardless of how anxious peers perceived them to be. Peer rater and target child demographics did not moderate the relationship between peer-rated anxiety and peer liking.     

Maternal depression, adult attachment, and children's emotional distress

INTRODUCTION: Our goal was to evaluate the impact of depressed mothers' marital intimacy and attachment security in romantic relationships on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. METHOD: Forty-six clinically depressed mothers rated attachment security, marital intimacy, and symptoms shown by their children aged 8 to 12. RESULTS: Maternal avoidance of closeness predicted increases in children's internalizing symptoms over a 6-month period. DISCUSSION: Avoidance of closeness in depressed mothers may be implicated in the development of internalizing symptoms in their children, possibly because individuals who are avoidant of closeness are poor caregivers.     

Children's Anticipated Responses to Hypothetical Peers With Undesirable Characteristics: Role of Peers' Desire to Change,Effort to Change,and Outcome

The authors explored the extent to which 5th- and 6th-grade students’ anticipated responses to hypothetical peers with undesirable characteristics (e.g., being overweight) are influenced by information that each peer (a) desired (or did not desire) to change the characteristic, (b) exerted effort (or did not exert effort) to change the characteristic, and (c) was successful (or unsuccessful) in changing the characteristic. In general, the children anticipated responding more favorably to peers who were successful in overcoming an undesirable characteristic than those who were unsuccessful. However, across both outcome conditions, peers who wanted to change and exerted effort to change were rated more favorably than were peers who reported no effort to change an undesirable characteristic, regardless of whether or not they had expressed a desire to change that characteristic. For peers whose failure to change an undesirable characteristic was associated with no effort to change, those who expressed a desire to change were rated more favorably than those who expressed no desire to change.     

儿童同伴信任和同伴接纳的关系:社会行为的中介效应及其性别差异

在金华市和杭州市两所市区普通小学, 选取366名3~6年级儿童为被试, 采用同伴互评、同伴提名法和班级戏剧问卷, 考察了社会行为在小学儿童同伴信任和同伴接纳间的中介效应及其性别差异。结果表明:(1)总体而言, 亲社会行为、退缩行为在儿童同伴信任和同伴接纳间存在显著的中介效应, 而攻击行为的中介效应不显著;(2)社会行为的中介效应存在性别差异。女生的同伴信任对亲社会行为的预测、亲社会行为对同伴接纳的预测作用都显著高于男生, 使得女生亲社会行为的中介效应大于男生。男女生的同伴信任对退缩行为的预测作用没有性别差异, 但是男生的退缩行为对同伴接纳的预测作用显著高于女生, 使得男生退缩行为的中介效应大于女生。