Development of children's mental representations: effects of age, sex, and school experience

In the present study mental representations in drawings by 158 young children, ages 2 1/2 to 6 yr. old were analysed. The aim was to investigate whether the accuracy of mental representations increased with age and how this development progressed. Also tested were whether the inferred mental representations differed for boys and girls and whether preschool experience affected the drawings. As expected, mental representation increased in complexity with age as measured by Goodenough's score, and girls' mental representations (drawings) were significantly more elaborate than boys. Moreover, attending school early seemed to affect mental representations of the 3-yr.-olds but not the 4-yr.-olds. Results are discussed in terms of internal and external factors in mental representation in drawing a man.     

Relationship between body image and percent body fat among British school children

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between body image and percent body fat in British school children. A total of 223 11- to 14-yr.-old children from central England took part in the study. Body image was measured using a self-report questionnaire, and percent body fat was measured using skinfold indices. Analysis indicated that body image and adiposity were significantly (p<.01) related for the whole sample, for boys and girls and for White children, Black children, and Asian children. An analysis of variance further indicated significant differences in body image and adiposity between boys and girls, with boys having a more positive body image and a lower percent body fat. Differences (p<.05) were also evident between Black and Asian children, with Black children having a more positive body image and lower percent body fat. No differences were evident between Black and White children or Asian and White children.     

Age differences in integration of components of a motor task.

To study effects of practice on the ability of 6-, 11-, and 18-yr.-old Ss to integrate the components of the Rho task 3 groups of 50 boys performed 30 consecutive trials. (a) With practice all age groups improved in total movement time; (b) 11-yr.-old Ss attained the 18-yr.-olds' level of performance in both components, initial differences existing only the linear component; (c) relative to the 18-yr.-old Ss, the 6-yr.-olds achieved proportionally less improvement in the linear component; (d) unlike 11- and 18-yr.-old Ss, the 6-yr.-olds evidenced increasing specificity of task components across trials. Unlike the two older age groups, the 6-yr.-old Ss were unable to achieve a high degree of integration of task components. The findings were discussed in light of Pascual-Leone's neo-Piagetian model of learning and development.     

Preschool children's social understanding: a pilot study of goals and strategies during conflict situations

This pilot study tested a new enactive measure of social information-processing skills and investigated whether preschool children's goals were related to their strategies during hypothetical conflict situations. Children (13 boys, 12 girls) ages 3 to 6 years (three 3-yr.-olds, three 4-yr.-olds, 11 5-yr.-olds, and eight 6-yr.-olds) engaged in a puppet interview of six hypothetical situations. Significant correlations were found between goals and strategies of the adapted version of Chung and Asher's Children's Conflict Resolution Measure, suggesting that preschool children who endorsed friendship goals tended to select more prosocial strategies (.41). Children who endorsed more retaliation goals tended to select more hostile strategies (.67) but fewer prosocial strategies (-.41), and children who endorsed more avoidance goals tended to select more adult-seeking strategies (.45).     

Sports participation outside school in total physical activity of children

This study of associations of sports participation with perceived and actual physical fitness, and total physical activity for 525 10- to 17-yr.-old boys and girls in groups of 10-11-yr. (56 boys and 64 girls), 12-13-yr. (68 boys and 68 girls), 14-15-yr. (70 boys and 71 girls), and 16-17-yr. (68 boys and 60 girls) was based on the Physical Activity Index derived from a questionnaire by Telama, Leskinen, and Young, and self-perceived endurance, strength, flexibility, and body composition. Questions about satisfaction with physical activity, participation in organized physical activity and competitions, or watching competitions were asked. Two EUROFIT tests were used, the 20-m endurance shuttle-run and sit-and-reach, plus the sum of 9 skinfold thicknesses. Children who participated in organized physical activity and in competitions had a higher Physical Activity Index. Passive watching of competitions was not related to children's physical activity or their perceived or measured motor abilities.     

Injuries due to school sports accidents in 4 to 13-yr.-old children

505 kindergarten and primary school children from 4 to 13 years of age were treated for school sports injuries during the period 1990-1997. The incidence of injuries increased statistically significantly from .5 per 1,000 children 4- to 5-yr.-old to 4.8 injured children per 1,000 in 12- to 13-yr.-old. 59% of the injuries involved upper extremities; 35% of these were in the wrist region. 33.5% of the injuries were of the lower extremities, with 50% being of the feet and 36.4% of the ankle. Accidental falls were the main situation (53%) in which school sport accidents occurred. Nearly 65% of these accidental falls occurred at the ground level; the remaining accidents (35%) occurred when the child was working on an apparatus, e.g., parallel bars, balancing beam, side horse. The 4- to 5-yr.-old children were the most vulnerable to accidental fall (67%). A statistically significant increase in injuries in ball sports was observed from 4- to 5-yr.-olds (0%) to the 12- to 13-yr.-olds (28%).     

Development of saccade target selection in infants.

To investigate the development of the target selection process for saccade generation, saccade latencies toward one of two targets were compared with those toward a target presented alone, under conditions where the timing of fixation stimulus offset was varied. 12 2-mo.-olds (7 boys and 5 girls), 12 3-mo.-olds (6 boys and 6 girls), and 12 5-mo.-olds (8 boys and 4 girls) participated. The latencies were longer when two saccade targets were presented on the left and right sides of the display (Double-target condition) than when one target was presented either on the left or right side of the display (Single-target condition). The difference between the Single and Double-target conditions tended to be larger in 2-mo. old infants than in 5-mo.-old infants when a central fixation target remained on after the onset of peripheral stimuli (Overlap condition). However, there was no difference between the 2-mo.-olds and the 5-mo.-olds when the fixation target was turned off before the peripheral stimuli were presented (Gap condition). The results provided evidence of the maturational development of a target selection process for saccade generation during 2 to 5 mo. of age.     

Perceptual learning by educable mentally retarded, average, and gifted children of primary school age

A match-to-sample task and a preference-ranking procedure were used to provide predifferentiation experiences on a color discrimination for 6- and 8-yr.-old children. The subjects included an educable mentally retarded 8-yr.-old group, an average 8-yr.-old group, a gifted 6-yr.-old group, and an average 6-yr.-old group. Mental age was the best predictor of success on task. A significant interaction of sex and teaching method suggests an advantage of girls in this group in instructional situations in which the perceptual learning task and testing tasks are not exactly the same. Girls did better than boys when a different response for task content was required in testing from that in teaching. Boys and girls performed similarly when the training task was the same as the testing task.     

Environmental influences on perceptual and motor skills of children from immigrant Ethiopian families

The purpose of this study was to examine environmental influences on perceptual and motor skills of children from immigrant Ethiopian families in Israel in comparison with those of Israeli-born children. The subjects were divided into groups based on age (6- to 8-yr.-olds and 10- to 12-yr.-olds) and length of time in Israel. The results of this study show that the perceptual and motor performance of 6- to 8-yr.-old, less recent Ethiopian immigrants is similar to that of the recent Ethiopian immigrants of the same age. A difference exists between those two groups and the Israeli-born children of the same age. In the 10- to 12-yr.-old age group, there is a marked difference between the performance of the two groups of Ethiopian immigrants. The difference between the less recent immigrants and the Israeli-born children is smaller for most tasks; however, the less recent immigrants' performance is still poorer than that of the Israeli children. These results are compatible with those of other studies describing the difficulties encountered by children who had not studied in formal educational settings and those who have had that experience.     

Factor structure of a Bulgarian translation of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale

The study examined the dimensionality of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale with a sample of 486 10- and 11-yr.-old Bulgarian children. Findings supported the established factor structure of this scale. Certain departures from the American version of the scale were also observed. Bulgarian girls scored significantly higher on the Anxiety scale than Bulgarian boys, and 10-yr.-old Bulgarian boys scored significantly lower than their American peers. Bulgarian children tended to score higher than the American children on the Lie scale. At present this Bulgarian version of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale could be employed as a rough screening test for anxiety.     

Developmental influences on speech-motor equivalence: some implications for articulatory disordered children

The peak amplitude of EMG activity was measured from the orbicularis oris superior (OOS), orbicularis oris inferior (OOI) and masseter muscles for 3 normal 4-yr.-old children and compared to past data gathered on a group of articulatory disordered children, normal children, and adults. The 4-yr.-olds evidenced greater average peak EMG activity than the other groups, suggesting that speech-sound production becomes more efficient with maturation. Also, levels of variability obtained for the younger children were considerably smaller than for the normal speakers across the three muscles, showing that motor equivalence changes with age whereby the flexibility in the control of articulators increases. The coefficient of variation for the OOI muscle for the disordered children, however, was similar to that for the 4-yr.-olds, while the corresponding data for the other two muscles paralleled those for normal ones. These findings were interpreted as reflecting a delay in the development of speech-motor equivalence that affects certain muscles while sparing others.     

Sex differences among children on embedded tasks

100 8-yr.-old children (50 boys and 50 girls) were evaluated on the Children's Embedded Figures Test to determine whether there are differences in disembedding ability between boys and girls. Analysis indicated that the boys were superior to the girls on the test as a whole, but this superiority is the result of boys' greater ability to detect a triangular figure and not, on the contrary, their ability to detect the outline of a house.     

Family and ability correlates of academic achievement

Relationships were examined among family social status, family learning environments, intellectual ability, and the mathematics and word achievement of boys and girls. Data were collected from 516 (250 boys, 266 girls) 11-yr.-old Australian children and their parents. Analysis indicated that the relationships between the predictor and achievement variables varied for boys and girls and differed depending on the achievement measure being examined. Generally, the family and ability measures combined to have large associations with word scores, while intellectual ability was the only significant predictor of mathematics achievement.     

Physical activity,motor ability,and school readiness of 6-yr.-old children

The aim of this investigation was to study the relationships between physical activity, motor ability, and school readiness in 6-yr.-old children. In total, 294 healthy children from Tartu were studied (161 boys and 133 girls). The physical activity of children was reported by parents and teachers using the questionnaire of Harro. The motor ability of children was evaluated using various tests from the Eurofit test battery as well as the 3-min. endurance shuttle run test. The Controlled Drawing Observation rest was used as a predictor of school readiness and development of mental abilities. Indoor physical activities predicted 19-25% of total variance in motor scores for these preschool children. Motor ability tests, which demand children's total attention and concentration, appear related to the chosen measures of school readiness.     

Age-related trends of interference control in school-age children and young adults in the Stroop color-word test

In this cross-sectional study, differences in interference control, one component of executive function, were investigated among three age groups, 15 early childhood (7- to 8-yr.-olds), 25 middle childhood (9- to 12-yr.-olds), and 20 young adults (21- to 30-yr.-olds). Participants were administered a computer version of the Stroop color-word test with an oral response; correct responses, response time (RT), and the interference ratio were examined. The data indicated that (1) most of the participants showed no errors in word reading, color-naming, and incongruent color-naming tasks; (2) in word-reading and color-naming tasks, RT for 7- to 8-yr.-olds was longer than that for 9- to 12-yr.-olds, while RT of 9- to 12-yr.-olds and young adults were comparable; (3) in an incongruent color-naming task, RT for 7- to 8-yr.-olds was longer than RT for 9- to 12-yr.-olds, which was longer than RT for young adults; and (4) the interference ratio was higher in 7- to 8-yr.-olds than in 9- to 12-yr.-olds, which was higher than in young adults. These results suggested the difference in interference control between early and middle childhood reported on the go/no-go task and the stop-signal procedure would be observed in the Stroop color-word paradigm as well. The utility of this modified Stroop color-word test for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities was discussed.     

Sex-role orientation of Caribbean adolescents

A total of 140 Caribbean middle-class 17-yr.-olds (68 boys and 72 girls) completed the Bem Sex-role Inventory. Analyses indicated strong stereotypical behavior in the direction of each group's respective sex-type.     

The Swedish version of the parent-rated Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI)

To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Swedish version of the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI), it was sent to parents of 9- and 12-yr.-old twins in Sweden. The final number of responders was 196 parents who rated 92 female and 104 male twin pairs. The inventory of one twin, randomly chosen from each pair, was included in the analyses. Reward Dependence, Persistence, and Cooperativeness were scored higher in girls; Novelty Seeking was higher in the 9-yr.-olds and Persistence in the 12-yr.-olds. Pearson's correlations showed that some dimensions were not statistically independent from each other, even if the covariance was moderate. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was satisfactory for Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking, Self-Directedness, and Cooperativeness (.68-.81), while it was lower in those dimensions that had fewer items. The Swedish parent version of the J-TCI shared about the same psychometric characteristics as found in international samples.     

Reliability of the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity among 8-yr-olds

The Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity was completed by 78 8-yr.-olds (40 boys and 38 girls) whose data support reliability measured as the internal consistency of the scale for this young sample.     

Validation of two cognitive measures to assess field-dependence/independence

The administration and scoring procedures for the Articulation of the Body-concept Scale and the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test were adapted to assess 3- to 8-yr.-old children's magnitude of field-dependence/independence. 300 3- to 5-yr.-old and 480 6- and 8-yr.-old children were administered the appropriate forms of the Embedded Figures Test, Articulation of the Body-concept Scale, and Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test. High reliability and validity estimates were found using a variety of procedures. Scores on these tests were correlated with each other to find the relationships among the tests for both the preschool and primary children. Correlations for the preschool children were stronger than those for the primary children. However, the results support the hypothesis that the administration and scoring procedures for the Articulation of the Body-concept Scale and the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test can be used to determine preschool and primary children's field-dependence/independence.     

Effects of contextual interference and age on acquisition, retention, and transfer of motor skill.

This experiment was designed to investigate the varying conditions of contextual interference within three age groups. 40 5-yr.-olds, 40 7-yr.-olds, and 40 11-yr.-olds practiced the task of throwing beanbags under either low contextual interference (blocked practice), high contextual interference (random practice), or medium contextual interference (combined practice). All subjects performed 30 acquisition trials, 12 retention trials and 6 transfer trials. Analysis indicated that only the 7-yr.-old subjects differed in their performance in the various practice groups. As hypothesized and suggested by developmental theories, the combined and blocked practice groups acquired the task better. On the other hand, the 5- and 11-yr.-olds did not differ in performance in the different practice groups. Whether this is associated with difficulty of the task or the length of practice can be assessed in further study. Contextual interference in different age groups needs further investigation.