Fear and positive affectivity in infancy: convergence/discrepancy between parent-report and laboratory-based indicators

This study examined convergence between indicators of infant temperament derived via parent-report and those obtained in the context of structured laboratory observations. Discrepancies between scores resulting from these methodological approaches were examined in an attempt to explain these differences by considering multiple reporter (i.e., parent) characteristics. Convergence between the two sources of information was hypothesized; however, discrepancies were also expected. This study was aimed at examining whether increased maternal depression and low parenting self-efficacy were related to higher levels of infant fear and decreased positive affectivity, as reported by mothers, relative to the scores derived from the laboratory procedure. Results indicated that the fear scores based on parent-report and structured observations, respectively, were significantly correlated; however, the correlation for smiling and laughter scores did not reach statistical significance. Furthermore, parents higher in negative affect reported a higher level of fear for their infants, relative to the results of the laboratory observation.     

Reactive and Regulative Temperament in Youths: Psychometric Evaluation of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised (EATQ-R), which is a scale for measuring reactive and regulative temperament traits, in a large sample of children and adolescents (N = 1,055). The results indicated that the internal consistency was acceptable for most EATQ-R temperament scales. Further, principal components analysis of the instrument yielded a structure with nine components, which generally reflected the temperament scales of the EATQ-R. The test–retest stability of the scale was moderate to good, whereas the parent–child agreement was rather low. Finally, the scale correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with children’s self-reports of personality and psychopathology. It can be concluded that the EATQ-R is a useful scale for measuring aspects of reactive and regulative temperament in children and adolescents, although there is certainly room for improving the instrument.

Temperamental profiles and linguistic development: Differences in the quality of linguistic production in relation to temperament in children of 28 months

The temperamental constellations that can be found in the infant population may influence the development trajectories of single domains of knowledge, such as that relative to language. The main objective of this study is to identify temperamental profiles to which one associates different levels of linguistic competence and to identify the profile associated with the highest risk for language acquisition. The temperamental characteristics of a sample of 106 children of 28 months attending day-care centres were surveyed and three temperamental profiles were highlighted: a profile typical of the Italian population which grouped most of the children; another made up of easily distractible and not very persistent children, who show a poor capacity to modulate motor activity and finally, the third with children inhibited in new situations. A comparison of the three groups on the basis of the level of linguistic competence revealed important differences regarding certain indices such as the vocabulary size and composition: in particular, the group of “inattentive” children has a more “immature” vocabulary composition, characterised by the presence of more primitive components of the lexical repertory.     

The Koala Fear Questionnaire: Its Relationship with Fear of Storms and Hurricanes in 4- to 14-Year-Old Antillean Children

The present study further investigated the reliability and validity of the recently developed Koala Fear Questionnaire (KFQ) in a large sample of 4- to 14-year-old school children (N = 378) who lived on Sint-Maarten, The Netherlands Antilles. The results confirmed that the KFQ is a reliable scale with good internal consistency. Furthermore, evidence was obtained for the concurrent validity of the scale. That is, KFQ scores were substantially correlated with a highly relevant fear of the children on Sint-Maarten, namely fear of storms and hurricanes. Finally, psychometric properties in the younger children of our sample were highly similar to those obtained in older children. Altogether, these findings provide further support for the notion that the KFQ is a reliable and valid scale for assessing fears and fearfulness in children aged 4 years and above.     

Validity of the Fear Survey Schedule in phobia research: A laboratory test

The Fear Survey Schedule III, developed by Wolpe and Lang (1969, 1977), is used frequently to classify subjects as phobic or nonphobic. Subjects selected for their intense-fear scores on blood, fire, bat, and snake items did not significantly differ from no-fear subjects on an objective behavioral assessment test. Analyses of subject verbal reports suggest several possibilities for the inability to discriminate between fearful and nonfearful subjects. Researchers are cautioned about the use of the Fear Survey Schedule for selecting phobic subjects without supporting evidence.     

Social Development of Preschool Children in Croatia: Contributions of Child Temperament, Maternal Life Satisfaction and Rearing Practices

We conducted the present study to examine the relationship of maternal characteristics (estimated happiness and life satisfaction, and child-rearing practices) and children’s temperament to conduct problems and prosocial behavior of preschool children in Croatia. Participants were mothers of 258 children (mean age 61.62 months), who gave their estimations on the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Subjective Happiness Scale, the Parental Behaviour Questionnaire, the EAS Temperament Survey and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. After analyzing correlations between all the variables included in research, we conducted two hierarchical regression analyses with implementation of predictor variables in 4 stages (socio-demographic variables; mothers’ estimated happiness and life satisfaction; child temperament; mothers’ parenting). In the final step of regression significant predictors of preschoolers’ conduct problems were children’s age, temperamental emotionality and activity, and mothers’ punishment and inductive reasoning. When predicting children’s prosocial behavior, significant predictors were mothers’ inductive reasoning and warmth, and children’s age and temperamental shyness.     

Robust patterns and individual variations: Stability and predictors of infant behavior in the still-face paradigm

In the present study we examined key issues regarding infant behavior in the still-face paradigm (SFP) in terms of individual variations, stability, and predictors. The sample consisted of 115 mothers and infants, with assessments at ages 3 and 6 months, including observations of maternal and infant behavior in the SFP, and parent reports of infant temperament. Both robust patterns and individual variations in infant SFP behaviors were found, with only a minority of infants showing the expected patterns for negative affect and gaze. Infant behavior patterns showed no stability from age 3 to 6 months, and infant gaze was related to more pronounced behavior changes across the SFP. Maternal sensitivity in the SFP baseline was related to some aspects of infant SFP behavior. Consistent with the differential susceptibility hypothesis, in infants with a more difficult temperament maternal sensitivity predicted a more pronounced expected pattern of changes in infant positive affect across the SFP, whereas this was not the case for infants with a more easy temperament.     

Describing the Acquisition of Determiners in English: A Growth Modeling Approach

This paper, based on naturalistic data, describes the acquisitional course and use of the articles a and the in young English-speaking children (18-61 months), with special emphasis on the role of individual variation. A growth modeling approach to the data reveals that children's individual acquisition schedules are similar in trend, but vary in the rate at which they omit determiners at a given point of time. This picture suggests that an analysis that presumes homogeneous development will seriously misrepresent the fluctuations between and within individuals. Interestingly, this variation does not reflect a variation in children's abilities to use determiners correctly-irrespective of the rate in which they used determiners, children seldom used determiners incorrectly. The analysis also reveals that children's optional omission of determiners in obligatory contexts, beginning at 18 months of age, gradually decreases on average by 3-4% a month until 36 months of age, and thereafter plunges by a factor of 10 to an average of 0.3% per month. At 36 month of age the majority of children use determiners at a near-mastery level (Brown, 1973). These findings provide a useful framework for theorizing about possible mechanisms underlying the nature of early language development pre- and post-36 months of age.     

Nature and Nurturing: Parenting in the Context of Child Temperament

Accounting for both bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and child temperament can fine-tune theoretical models of the role of parenting and temperament in children’s development of adjustment problems. Evidence for bidirectional and interactive effects between parenting and children’s characteristics of frustration, fear, self-regulation, and impulsivity was reviewed, and an overall model of children’s individual differences in response to parenting is proposed. In general, children high in frustration, impulsivity and low in effortful control are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of negative parenting, while in turn, many negative parenting behaviors predict increases in these characteristics. Frustration, fearfulness, and effortful control also appear to elicit parenting behaviors that can predict increases in these characteristics. Irritability renders children more susceptible to negative parenting behaviors. Fearfulness operates in a very complex manner, sometimes increasing children’s responses to parenting behaviors and sometimes mitigating them and apparently operating differently across gender. Important directions for future research include the use of study designs and analytic approaches that account for the direction of effects and for developmental changes in parenting and temperament over time.     

Predicting Change in Parenting Stress Across Early Childhood: Child and Maternal Factors

This study examined maternal parenting stress in a sample of 430 boys and girls including those at risk for externalizing behavior problems. Children and their mothers were assessed when the children were ages 2, 4, and 5. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to examine stability of parenting stress across early childhood and to examine child and maternal factors predicting parenting stress at age 2 and changes in parenting stress across time. Results indicated that single parenthood, maternal psychopathology, child anger proneness, and child emotion dysregulation predicted 2-year parenting stress. Child externalizing behaviors predicted initial status and changes across time in parenting stress. Stability of parenting stress was dependent upon child externalizing problems, as well as interactions between child externalizing problems and gender, and child externalizing problems and emotion regulation. Results are discussed in the context of mechanisms by which parenting stress may influence the development of child externalizing behaviors.     

Social Capital and Fear of Crime in Adolescence: A Multilevel Study

Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the relationships between social capital (at the individual, the neighborhood, and the regional levels) and adolescents' fear of crime, while controlling for the main individual (sociodemographics, television viewing, and bullying victimization), neighborhood (neighborhood size and aggregated victimization), and regional (crime rate and level of urbanization) variables. Data were analyzed using a three‐level model based on 22,639 15.7‐year‐old (SD = 0.67) students nested within 1081 neighborhoods and 19 Italian regions. The findings revealed that individual and contextual measures of social capital, modeled at the individual, neighborhood, and regional levels simultaneously, showed negative associations with adolescents' fear of crime. Males and participants with higher family affluence were less likely to feel fear of crime, whereas victimization, both at the individual and neighborhood levels, had a positive association with fear of crime. Strengths, limitations, and potential applications of the study are discussed.     

They are afraid of the animal, so therefore I am too: Influence of peer modeling on fear beliefs and approach-avoidance behaviors towards animals in typically developing children

This study investigated the effect of filmed peer modeling on fear beliefs and approach–avoidance behaviors towards animals in 8- to 10-year-old typically developing children. Ninety-seven children randomly received either a positive or negative modeling film in which they saw peers interact with a novel animal. Before and after this film, children’s fear beliefs and avoidance tendencies towards the modeled and non-modeled control animal were measured. A behavioral approach task was also administered post-modeling. Following positive peer modeling, children’s fear beliefs and avoidance tendencies towards the modeled but also towards the non-modeled animal decreased significantly. After negative modeling, children’s fear beliefs towards the modeled animal increased significantly, but did not change for the non-modeled animal. Negative modeling did not change avoidance tendencies for the modeled animal, while it decreased children’s avoidance of the non-modeled animal. No significant effects were observed on the behavioral approach task. These results support Rachman’s indirect pathway of modeling/vicarious learning as a plausible mechanism by which children can acquire fears of novel stimuli and stresses the important fear-reducing effects of positive peer modeling. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

女性生理周期对条件性恐惧习得和消退的影响

动物研究显示, 雌激素调节条件性恐惧习得和消退, 但是, 人类的性激素对条件性恐惧习得和消退的影响还不太清楚。因此, 本研究以大学生为研究对象, 考察女性不同生理周期对条件性情境恐惧的习得和消退的影响。20名经前期和20名经期女被试暴露于3种情境下：无厌恶刺激情境(N)、可预测情境(P)和不可预测情境(U), 预测此3种情境下是否出现厌恶刺激。以在线索条件下和无线索条件下对厌恶刺激的主观预期值为因变量。研究结果显示:在习得阶段, 经期女性在P情境下的条件性线索恐惧的主观预期值高于经前期女性; 经前期女性在3种情境下的条件性情境恐惧的主观预期值都高于经期女性, 但只在N情境和P情境, 与经期女性相比, 经前期女性对厌恶刺激的主观预期值存在显著差异。在消退阶段, 与经期女性相比, 经前期女性在3种情境下的条件性情境恐惧的主观预期值更高, 且经前期女性对厌恶刺激的主观预期值在N情境和P情境显著高于经期女性。该结果显示, 经前期女性对条件性情境恐惧易习得难消退, 表明此生理阶段的性激素影响大脑的情绪调节功能, 从而影响条件性情境恐惧。     

Maternal stress and perceptions of self-efficacy in socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers: an explicative model

Studies have demonstrated that maternal stress and perceptions of self-efficacy influence a mother's performance, affecting her ability to interact with her child and to understand and answer his needs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate maternal stress and the perception of self-efficacy in the mothers of infants who are cared for in child-care centers and belong to the poorest segment of the Chilean population. To this end, these aspects were studied in 121 low-income, high-social-risk mothers with children between the ages of 4 and 9 months. The final goal was to generate an explicative model of self-efficacy and maternal stress that considered characteristics of the family and the child. The results revealed that family characteristics - especially household size, per capita incomes and mother age - are more relevant for explaining maternal self-efficacy and stress. The findings and implications for practice are discussed.     

Temperament,coping, and involuntary stress responses in preadolescent children: the moderating role of achievement goal orientation

Background and objectives: Developmental theorists posit that temperament contributes to preadolescent’s stress response styles. Findings from empirical studies, however, have yielded mixed results, thus indicating a need to consider moderators of this relation. Utilizing an analytic framework guided by resiliency theory [Zimmerman, M. A. (2013). Resiliency theory: A strengths-based approach to research and practice for adolescent health. Health Education &; Behavior, 40, 381–383], this study examined achievement goal orientation as a moderator of the relation between temperament and stress response styles.

Methods: 96 preadolescent–parent dyads (M_age?=?10.30 years, range?=?9–12 years) participated in the study. Preadolescents reported on their achievement goal orientation, coping and involuntary stress responses (ISRs) styles and a parent reported on children’s temperament.

Results: Multiple regressions revealed that effortful control positively predicted preadolescent’s predominant use of engagement coping and negatively predicted predominance of ISRs, but only for children with a predominant mastery goal orientation. For preadolescents with a predominant performance goal orientation, effortful control negatively predicted the predominant use of engagement coping and positively predicted predominance of ISRs. Negative affectivity and its interaction with goal orientation did not predict coping or ISR styles.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that a predominant mastery goal orientation may function as a promotive factor by enhancing the contribution of effortful control to engagement coping styles and buffering against unmanaged reactivity.     

Fear,attachment and affiliation: The interaction of functional systems in 8- and 12-month-old infants

In this research fear of strangers has been analysed as it interacts with attachment and affiliation, and in relation to developmental level, in conditions most similar to the natural situations where encounters with unfamiliar persons take place. A total of 30 infants and their mothers participated. The children were divided into two groups (8-9 and 11-12 months). Each infant was approached by two females, who, in turn, produced either of two natural sequences. Our results allowed us to confirm the universality of fear and its coexistence and interaction with attachment and affiliation. As far as the role that developmental level plays, it was noted that in the 12-month-old infants fear reactions were more intense than in the younger ones. Furthermore, the attachment system was more activated in the older group in the intrusive episodes, but when the threatening nature of the situation decreased, attachment was activated less in the 12-month-old group. Another difference was related to control resources. While in the younger infants we observed a tendency to control their own emotional state, the 12-month-old infants tried to gain control over the stranger. These results were interpreted by considering the adaptative value of an increase with age of the capacity to evaluate a situation's threat value, of attachment security, and of behavioural resources permitting some control over the stranger's behaviour.     

Testing the Bivalent Fear of Evaluation Model of Social Anxiety: The Relationship between Fear of Positive Evaluation,Social Anxiety,and Perfectionism

The Bivalent Fear of Evaluation (BFOE) model of social anxiety proposes that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) play distinct roles in social anxiety. Research is however lacking in terms of how FPE is related to perfectionism and how these constructs interact to predict social anxiety. Participants were 382 individuals from the general community and included an oversampling of individuals with social anxiety. Measures of FPE, FNE, perfectionism, and social anxiety were administered. Results were mostly consistent with the predictions made by the BFOE model and showed that accounting for confounding variables, FPE correlated negatively with high standards but positively with maladaptive perfectionism. FNE was also positively correlated with maladaptive perfectionism, but there was no significant relationship between FNE and high standards. Also consistent with BFOE model, both FNE and FPE significantly moderated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and social anxiety with the relationship strengthened at high levels of FPE and FNE. These findings provide additional support for the BFOE model and implications are discussed.     

An Experimental Test of the Effects of Parental Modeling on Panic-Relevant Escape and Avoidance Among Early Adolescents

Escape and avoidance behaviors play a prominent role in the maintenance and possibly development of panic disorder, yet the literature regarding the etiology of these emotion-regulation strategies is relatively underdeveloped. The current study experimentally tests hypotheses that parental modeling of escape during a well-established panic-relevant biological challenge increases panic-relevant escape and avoidance among offspring. Fifty physically and psychologically healthy early adolescents (28 females; M_age = 11.58; 86% Caucasian), stratified by gender, were randomly assigned to observe one of their parents (39 females; M_age = 40.04): either (a) model completing a 3-min voluntary hyperventilation exercise (no escape modeling group) or (b) model premature termination of a similar procedure (escape modeling group). Offspring in the escape modeling group demonstrated a stronger escape response by discontinuing their own challenge sooner than those in the no-escape modeling group (r = .70). No group differences emerged in terms of avoidance responding, as indexed by nearly identical responding in terms of delay time before initiating the challenge, respiration rate, and self-reported willingness to engage in a second proposed challenge. Results suggest that parental behaviors may play an important role in the development of some forms of panic-relevant responding. These preliminary findings may have important implications for future prevention programs targeting parents and at-risk youth.     

Examining the Cultural Validity of Fear Survey Schedule for Children: The Contemporary Fears of Turkish Children and Adolescents

The authors examined the cultural validity of Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-AM) developed by J. J. Burnham (2005) with Turkish children. The relationships between demographic variables and the level of fear were also tested. Three independent data sets were used. The first data set comprised 676 participants (321 women and 355 men) and was used for examining factor structure and internal reliability of FSSC. The second data set comprised 639 participants (321 women and 318 men) and was used for testing internal reliability and to confirm the factor structure of FSCC. The third data set comprised 355 participants (173 women and 182 men) and used for analyses of test–retest reliability, inter-item reliability, and convergent validity for the scores of FSSC. The sum of the first and second samples (1,315 participants; 642 women and 673 men) was used for testing the relationships between demographic variables and the level of fear. Results indicated that FSSC is a valid and reliable instrument to examine Turkish children's and adolescents’ fears between the ages of 8 and 18 years. The younger, female, children of low-income parents reported a higher level of fear. The findings are discussed in light of the existing literature.     

Differences in Fear of Isolation as an explanation of Cultural Differences: Evidence from memory and reasoning

Previous research suggests that members of East Asian cultures show a greater preference for dialectical thinking and sensitivity to context information than do Westerners. We suggest this difference is rooted in a greater chronic Fear of Isolation (FOI) in East Asians than in Westerners. To support this hypothesis, we manipulated FOI in a group of Westerners and assessed their relative preference for dialectical proverbs and sensitivity to context. For cross-cultural validation of our hypothesis, we assessed the relationship between chronic levels of FOI and dialectical reasoning in Koreans. Consistent with our proposal, both experimentally primed FOI (Experiment 1A and 2) and chronic levels of FOI (Experiment 1B) were positively related to relative preference for dialectical proverbs. This effect was independent of participants’ level of negative mood (Experiment 2). A third experiment showed that sensitivity to context was affected by FOI in a manner consistent with previous studies of cultural differences (Experiment 3).