Mothers with hostile, Type A predisposing child-rearing practices.

The authors examined characteristics of Finnish mothers (N = 924) who use hostile child-rearing practices (i.e., they ignore the child, are punitive and irritable, and perceive the child as a burden), practices that have been shown (R?ikk?nen & Keltikangas-J?rvinen, 1992) to predispose children to Type A behavior. The results of this study indicate that two factors--Type A behavior in the mothers and the mothers' sociodemographic background (low occupational status, low educational level and young age)--increase the probability of the mothers' treating their children in a hostile manner. Also, the mothers of boys in this study reported more hostile child-rearing practices than the mothers of girls did.     

Confirmatory factor analysis of parents' and teachers' ratings of DSM-IV symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a Spanish sample

Confirmatory factor analysis examined the factor structure of DSM IV Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms and analyzed the differences in informants' ratings of ADHD symptoms by children's age and sex. A sample of 1,018 Spanish school children, 574 girls and 444 boys, ages 4 to 12 years, was rated by teachers and parents. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a similar fit for the three-factor model of Inattention, Hyperactivity, and Impulsivity (teachers: CFI = .976, RMR = .041, % of total variance = 83.2; parents: CFI = .969, RMR = .037, % of total variance = 82.7) and for the two-factor model of Inattention and Hyperactivity Impulsivity (teachers: CFI = .958, RMR = .044, % of total variance = 79.3; parents: CFI = .961, RMR = .038, % of total variance, 79.9). The two-factor model was selected as a parsi monious representation of the teachers' and parents' ratings of ADHD symptoms. Analyses of variance indicated significant differences in teachers' and parents' mean ratings across sex and school grades of children.     

Children's questions about interparent conflict and violence: what's a mother to say?

This research examined the relation between mothers' responses to children's questions about interparent conflict and children's adjustment. Participants were 134 mothers and their children (70 boys, 64 girls), aged 7 to 10. In each family, an act of intimate-partner violence (IPV) had recently occurred. Mothers' responses to children's questions about interparent conflict were assessed via a semistructured interview coded to reflect the extent to which the mothers' responses addressed the content of the children's questions. Mothers and children reported on physical IPV. Mothers also reported on interparent conflict, parent-child aggression, and maternal warmth. Children's adjustment was assessed via mothers' and children's reports at two time points 6 months apart. The extent to which mothers' responses addressed the content of the children's questions about interparent conflict was negatively associated with children's adjustment problems, after accounting for the frequency of physical IPV, frequency of interparent conflict, parent-child aggression, and maternal warmth. These associations emerged cross-sectionally and prospectively. However, in those prospective analyses that accounted for children's baseline levels of adjustment, maternal responsiveness was not associated with later children's adjustment problems.     

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.     

Interparental conflict and children's school adjustment: the explanatory role of children's internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships

This study examined how children's insecure internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships served as explanatory mechanisms in multiple pathways linking interparental conflict and parent emotional unavailability with the emotional and classroom engagement difficulties the children had in their adjustment to school. With their parents, 229 kindergarten children (127 girls and 102 boys, mean age = 6.0 years, SD = .50, at Wave 1) participated in this multimethod, 3-year longitudinal investigation. Findings revealed that children's insecure representations of the interparental relationship were a significant intervening mechanism in associations between observational ratings of interparental conflict and child and teacher reports on children's emotional and classroom difficulties in school over a 2-year period. Moreover, increased parental emotional unavailability accompanying high levels of interparental conflict was associated with children's insecure representations of the parent-child relationship and children's difficulties in classroom engagement at school entry. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the intrinsic processes that contribute to difficulties with stage-salient tasks for children who are experiencing interparental discord.     

Moderating Effects of Mothers' Attribution on the Relationships Between Their Affect and Parenting Behaviors and Children's Aggressive Behaviors

We examined Bugental's (1987) transactional model in the context of the relationships between aggressive children and their mothers. Based on Bugental's model, it was hypothesized that mothers who possessed the attributional style of low self-control and high child-control over hypothetical child care failure were more likely to manifest negative affect and negative parenting behaviors toward their child, only when their child is aggressive. Children's aggressive behavior was assessed via mothers' and teachers' ratings. Sixty-six children and their mothers served as subjects. Our results provided support for mothers' negative affect when using teachers' rating of children's aggressive behaviors only. Possible explanations for the differential results obtained using mothers' and teachers' ratings of children's aggressive behaviors were discussed.     

父亲教养态度与儿童在4～7岁间的问题行为和学校适应

对54名儿童在4岁和7岁时的问题行为及其父亲的教养态度进行追踪研究,在儿童7岁时,根据教师报告考察其学校适应情况。结果发现：父亲的过分关心能显著预测男孩的外显和内隐问题行为;父亲的拒绝和控制能显著预测儿童在学校中的助人行为;从4岁到7岁．父亲的教养态度既有稳定性,又有一定的变化;父亲对待男孩和女孩的教养态度差异显著。     

Childhood disruptive behaviors and family functioning in clinically referred children: Are girls different from boys?

Baseline assessments of 4 to 8-year-old children, 26 girls and 101 boys, referred to outpatient treatment for disruptive behaviors, were examined, focusing on possible differences between the functioning of boys and girls and their families. Child variables included diagnostic information, measures of disruptive behaviors, social competence, and independent observations of child behaviors. A variety of family variables, such as information regarding parenting practices, parental stress, and depression were included. Teacher reports of disruptive behaviors and social competence at school were included. Teacher ratings of child functioning indicated that boys displayed significantly more externalizing behaviors and they were less socially competent than girls. Parents perceived both girls and boys as highly oppositional and aggressive, and generally speaking, differences were few. Nevertheless, the level of stress was higher in girls' than in boys' families, and mothers of girls reported of higher levels of depressive symptoms. Girls and boys did not differ regarding diagnostic status.     

Evaluation of a social skills program based on social learning theory, implemented in a school setting

Using a sample of 647 Canadian children in kindergarten to Grade 3 (325 boys, 322 girls), the present study evaluated the perceived effectiveness of Skillstreaming (McGinnis & Goldstein, 2003), a widely known social skills program implemented to target the development of four skill sets, i.e., listening, following directions, problem-solving, and knowing when to tell. Results indicated significant postprogram improvements in all skills as well as in ratings of overall prosociality obtained from both classroom teachers and mental health staff, with medium to large effect sizes obtained from teachers' and mental health professionals' ratings, respectively. Additional analyses yielded significant but weak moderator effects of grade and preprogram prosocial functioning for teacher ratings but no consistent moderator effects for children's sex or school location (i.e., urban versus rural) regardless of rater.     

Sex differences in self- and teachers' reports of self-esteem in preadolescents

The short form of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was administered to 952 fourth- and fifth-grade children (482 males, 470 females) from 41 classes. The children's teachers completed Coopersmith's Behavior Rating Form, a measure of self-esteem-related behavior. In the self-ratings, girls were significantly lower than boys; in the teachers' ratings, girls were significantly higher. In 32 of the 41 classes, boys ranked higher in their self-ratings than in the teacher ratings; the reverse was true for girls — a highly significant difference. This pattern of findings did not occur in the 8 classes which had male teachers. Issues concerning the measurement and conceptualization of self-esteem are discussed.This research was supported by Lehigh University, using Institutional Grant funds from the National Science Foundation. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Patricia Horton for her assistance in the collection of the data.     

Children's coping strategies: moderators of the effects of peer victimization?

Coping strategies were examined as potential moderators of the effects of peer victimization on children's adjustment. Self-report data on victimization experiences, coping strategies, and loneliness were collected on ethnically diverse 9-10-year-old children (177 girls, 179 boys). Teacher ratings of children's anxious-depressed and social problems and peer nominations of social preference were also obtained. Findings revealed that strategies such as problem solving that were beneficial for nonvictimized children exacerbated difficulties for victimized children. The effects of specific forms of coping were dependent on gender: social support seeking buffered victimized girls from social problems but was associated with lower peer preference for victimized boys. Data also revealed the need to examine the effects of coping on multiple adjustment outcomes.     

Body image perceptions among Chinese children and adolescents

In order to investigate the body image self-perception and the prevalence of body dissatisfaction among Chinese children and adolescents, 9100 children aged 3-15 years living in four cities completed a questionnaire assessing body image self-percepts and ideals by figural stimuli. The results indicate that (1) children's body ratings started to be significantly related to their BMIs at age 5 and correlations increased with age; (2) a wide range of current body sizes was chosen by Chinese boys and girls; (3) the ideal body sizes of boys and girls selected by boys and girls, respectively, were "boys by boys">"boys by girls">"girls by boys">"girls by girls" and (4) the satisfaction, mild dissatisfaction, and moderate dissatisfaction rates were 40.1%, 36.4% and 23.5%, respectively. Differences as a function of gender and age were identified. It was concluded that the prevalence of body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents of urban China was striking, and that the Chinese boys were not immune to body dissatisfaction.     

School adjustment, school performance and peer relations among first-graders in a Swedish suburban area

A study of 95 first-graders in one school management area used teacher ratings of problems and sociometric ratings to assess school adjustment and peer relations; 14% of the children had difficulties in reading/writing, motor skill, concentration and psychosocial function. Behavioural problems did not generally coincide with poor scholastic performance, but a small group (6.3%) exhibited problems in both reading/writing, concentration, gross and fine motor skill and psychosocial functions. Sociometric results showed only moderate agreement with teacher ratings. Extremely popular boys had no teacher-rated problems, but children with teacher-rated problems did not to any high degree tend to be isolated. Poor gross motor skill did distinguish isolated boys from others, a relationship that was not evident among the girls. The need to study the validity of teacher ratings as well as the prognostic value of school adjustment in first grade was stressed.     

Identification of gifted deaf children: a complex but critical educational process.

11 deaf students in a large midwestern school for the deaf were divided into gifted and nongifted groups by ratings of teachers and school administrators. There were six subjects in the gifted group (3 boys and 3 girls) and five subjects in the comparison group (3 boys and 2 girls). There was no statistically significant difference between mean raw scores of the two groups on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices. Also, teachers' rankings of the subjects identified as gifted did not correlate significantly with their Raven scores. Identification of gifted deaf students is too complex to be based only on teachers' ratings.     

The prediction of adjustment at age 7 from activity level at age 5

One-hundred and ninety-two children (equally split between boys and girls) were studied when they were 5 years old in two settings, school and home. The children were observed in playgroups and at home, and were rated on activity level by their parents on the Rothbart Child Behavior Questionnaire. At age 7, the children were tested in our laboratory on the Harter Test of Perceived Competence and on an achievement task, and parents filled out the Child Behavior Checklist, the Child Behavior Questionnaire, and the Conners Parent Rating Scale. Home observations of activity level were significantly related to parent ratings of activity level, but not to school observations. Activity level at age 5 was related to parents' ratings of aggression and hyperactivity and to girls' learning problems at age 7. Activity level was not related to the children's self-perceived competence, but mothers' rating of high activity level at age 5 was related to low reading comprehension at age 7.Preparation of this paper was supported in part by the Center for Research for Mothers and Children, NICHD, U.S. PHS grant HD 19739 to Beverly I. Fagot.     

Gender differences in self-system processes as rated by teachers and students

A commonly held assumption about gender differences in children's perceptions of their academic competence is that girls underrate their abilities more than boys. The present study had two goals: to assess whether boys or girls are more likely to over- or underrate their academic competence, and to examine gender differences in self-system concomitants of discrepant appraisals. One hundred twelve 4th-6th-grade children rated themselves on overall self-worth, academic competence, self-regulatory style, anxiety, and coping with perceived failure. Six teachers rated these children on the same items. In addition, standardized achievement test scores were available for the children. Groups of over-, under-, and congruent raters were formed using teacher ratings as one comparison standard and achievement test scores as another comparison standard. The data show that when distortion in self-appraisal is derived from achievement test scores, girls are somewhat less likely to underrate their abilities than are boys. However, when distortion is derived from teacher ratings of competence, girls are more likely to underrate than boys and boys are somewhat more likely to overrate. Teachers rate boys who underrate themselves lower in competence than boys who overrate themselves, but they rate girls who underrate higher than girls who overrate. The commonly held assumption about girls' underrating of their academic competence is not borne out in this study. We believe it is important to examine differences between comparison standards and between children's and teacher's ratings to understand more fully gender differences in self-system concomitants of discrepant self-appraisals.The authors wish to thank James Connell for his important contributions to this article, and the Human Motivation Research Group (Ed Deci, Richard Ryan, and James Connell) for making their data available to us.     

Academic Success of Mexican Origin Adolescent Boys and Girls: The Role of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting and Cultural Orientation

To understand the role that Mexican origin parents play in their children's academic success, this study used structural equation modeling to evaluate the associations of parents' parenting practices (warmth, monitoring, harshness, and academic involvement) and cultural orientations (enculturation and acculturation) with their adolescents' grades, classroom behavior, and association with peers who get into trouble at school. Data were obtained from teachers, mothers, fathers, and male and female adolescents in 560 Mexican origin families living in the southwest U.S. Results indicated that mothers' and fathers' parenting practices and cultural orientations were linked to adolescents' academic outcomes. However, there were differences for boys and girls. Results are discussed in relation to parent and adolescent gender roles and implications for intervention.     

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.     

母亲情绪调节与幼儿情绪理解能力:母亲应对方式的中介作用

对258名幼儿进行情绪理解能力任务测查,其母亲完成情绪调节方式问卷和应对幼儿消极情绪问卷,探讨母亲情绪调节方式、母亲对幼儿消极情绪的反应方式和幼儿情绪理解能力之间的关系。结果表明,幼儿情绪理解能力随年龄增长而提高,女孩情绪理解能力高于男孩。母亲对幼儿消极情绪更多采用情感关注和问题解决,惩罚反应最少,母亲对男孩的消极情绪表现出更多的惩罚反应,对女孩表现出更多的情感关注。母亲鼓励表达在其情绪调节方式和幼儿情绪理解能力之间有中介作用。