Former Latchkey Children: Personality and Academic Correlates

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and correlates (demographic, personality, and academic) of former latchkey status (children unsupervised by an adult after school during their elementary or middle school years) in a college student sample (N = 188). A clear operational definition of latchkey status was provided. Students were surveyed and administered a personality questionnaire, and their academic aptitude test scores were verified through university records. Twenty-five percent of the male and 14% of the female participants were identified as former latchkey children, resulting in an 18% latchkey prevalence rate. The mean age of onset of latchkey status was 8.7 years for the male and 10.0 years for the female subjects. Having been a latchkey child was positively associated with being male and Caucasian, coming from a one-parent family, and having had a mother who worked outside the home. Multivariate analyses of the personality and academic measures revealed no significant between-group differences.     

Remembering to Relate: Socioemotional Correlates of Mother-Child Reminiscing

Previous research has established that mothers vary in how elaborately they reminisce with their preschool children, but explanation of these individual differences is lacking. We predicted that maternal elaborations during reminiscing would be related to mother-child attachment status, as well as to measures of verbal and nonverbal emotional expressiveness. Thirty-eight middle class mothers and their 41/2-year-old children participated in a reminiscing task and a joint art activity, and mothers completed the Attachment Behavior Q-set (Waters, 1987). Mothers who were more elaborative during reminiscing also reported a more secure attachment bond, but these variables were unrelated to either verbal or nonverbal expression of emotion during mother-child interaction. However, patterns of relations also varied by gender of child. Theoretical implications of these results for understanding joint reminiscing and attachment are discussed.     

创新思维中原型激活促发顿悟的认知神经机制

创造性是人类智能的高级表现, 创新思维则是个体创造性的核心过程。我们以创造性问题解决中的顿悟过程为研究对象, 提出并验证了创新思维中原型激活促发顿悟的理论构想; 综合运用事件相关电位(ERP)和功能性核磁共振(fMRI)的技术优势, 初步揭示了原型激活促发顿悟的大脑机制。具体表现为, 楔前叶的激活可能与原型激活和关键信息提取有关; 左侧额下回/额中回的激活可能与与思维定势打破和新异联结形成有关; 同时研究也表明大脑的特定准备状态(额中回/扣带前回的激活)对顿悟的产生有积极的促进作用。     

Sex and Sociocultural Correlates of Urinary Incontinence in Israeli Preschool Children

Urinary incontinence in children aged 2 to 6 years whose mothers varied in ethnic descent, in level of education, and in immigration status was studied in Israel. Mothers of 302 children were interviewed in well-baby clinics regarding primary and secondary urinary incontinence of their children. A significant age trend was found for attaining primary urinary continence. However, various interactions between mothers' ethnic descent, mothers' level of education, and mothers' immigration status were associated with different rates of primary and secondary urinary incontinence in their children. Moreover, sex differences in rates of primary and secondary urinary incontinence were also associated with mothers' ethnic descent and level of education. It is suggested that different levels of maternal emotional availability to the child in the various subgroups can account for most of the findings.     

正常与多动儿童的创造力、学习适应性比较研究

本研究比较ADHD儿童和正常儿童在创造性思维测验、学习适应性测验以及教师对其创造力评价上的差异。结果表明：(1)ADHD儿童和正常儿童在数字和图形创造性思维测验上的成绩没有显著的差异。表明ADHD和创造力是彼此独立的两个特质;(2)ADHD儿童在学习态度、学校环境(主要是师生关系和同伴关系)、独立性和毅力等维度上明显偏低;(3)不同学科教师对于ADHD儿童和正常儿童在创造力水平高低的评价上没有显著性差异;(4)对于正常儿童。不同学科教师对其创造力的评价与儿童在创造力测验上的得分呈显著性相关;对于ADHD儿童则没有显著性相关。     

Multiple Roles and Well-Being: A Study of Mothers of Preschool Age Children

The relation of well-being to involvement in multiple roles was examined in a study of 134 Caucasian women. All subjects were married and mothers of at least one preschool child; 50 were also paid workers. Two indices of well-being were used: (a) self-esteem; and (b) satisfaction with one's current role pattern. No differences in level of well-being were found between the employed and nonemployed groups. Findings were discussed in relation to theoretical perspectives on multiple role involvement.     

积极道德情绪和年龄对3-5岁幼儿安慰行为的影响

大量研究已经表明,消极道德情绪可以促进幼儿的亲社会行为,但积极道德情绪对幼儿亲社会行为的促进作用仍然缺乏全面探索。安慰行为是幼儿的典型亲社会行为,本研究使用实验法,采取想象启动和实际启动两种范式,考察积极道德情绪对3-5岁257名幼儿的安慰行为的影响。研究发现,幼儿的安慰行为发展具有年龄特征,4岁是幼儿安慰行为发展的转变关键期,更有意义的是,研究证明积极道德情绪对幼儿的安慰行为具有促进效应。本研究结果能为有效培养儿童的安慰行为提供有益建议。     

A Comparison of Single and Multi-Test Working Memory Assessments in Predicting Academic Achievement in Children

Children assessed as having low working memory capacity have also been shown to perform more poorly than their same-aged peers in measures of academic achievement. Early detection of working memory problems is, therefore, an important first step in reducing the impact of a working memory deficit on the development of academic skills. In this study, we compared a single-test assessment, the Working Memory Power Test for Children (WMPT) and a multi-test assessment, the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA), in their ability to predict academic achievement in reading, numeracy, and spelling. A total of 132 Australian school children (mean age 9 years, 9 months) participated in the research. Strong positive correlations between the WMPT and AWMA total scores were found, indicating good convergent validity of the single and multi-test measures. WMPT scores correlated with each of the four AWMA subtests designed to assess verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory. WMPT and AWMA scores separately predicted performance on Word Reading, Numerical Operations, and Spelling. Compared with either measure alone, the WMPT and the AWMA in combination predicted more of the variance in Word Reading and Numerical Operations, but not in Spelling. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Utility of Behavior Ratings by Examiners During Assessments of Preschool Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

This study examines the clinical utility of behavior ratings made by nonclinician examiners during assessments of preschool children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). Matched samples of children with (n = 127) and without (n = 125) AD/HD were utilized to test the internal, convergent, concurrent, and incremental validity of ratings completed by examiners on the Hillside Behavior Rating Scale (HBRS). Results indicated that HBRS ratings were internally consistent, possessed sufficient interrater reliability, and were significantly associated with parent and teacher reports of AD/HD when controlling for age, gender, intelligence, and symptoms of other psychopathology. HBRS ratings also were significantly associated with other measures of functioning, and provided a significant increment in the prediction of impairment over parent and teacher report alone. These findings suggest that behavioral ratings during testing provide a unique source of clinical information that may be useful as a supplement to parent and teacher reports.     

Parenting Behaviors of Mothers and Fathers of Preschool Age Children with Internalizing Disorders

This study investigated parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers of clinically anxious preschool children (with or without depressive comorbidity) and healthy comparison children. Studies assessing children from early school age onwards have found that parental control, rejection, and inconsistent discipline are associated with the presence of children’s internalizing symptoms/disorders. Despite the scarcity of studies investigating these associations at preschool age, we assumed that findings with older children would also apply to children in this age group. In a cross-sectional study we assessed N = 176 children of preschool age (M = 5; 2 years) and both of their parents. A diagnostic interview (Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment) was conducted to determine children’s psychiatric diagnoses, yielding the following results: a group of n = 67 children with pure anxiety disorders (AD group), a group of n = 38 children with anxiety disorders with depressive comorbidity (AD/DC group), and a comparison group of n = 71 children without psychiatric disorders. Both parents completed the German extended version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. We evaluated maternal depressive symptoms and children’s temperament as further correlates. All variables that differed significantly between groups were entered into multinomial logistic regression analyses to test which variables predict group membership. When comparing each of the two anxiety groups with the comparison group we obtained the following results: (1) Inconsistent paternal discipline and maternal depressive symptoms increased and children’s positive affectivity decreased the probability of children of being in the AD group rather than in the comparison group. (2) Maternal overinvolvement, maternal depressive symptoms and children’s negative affectivity increased and children’s positive affectivity decreased the probability of children of belonging to the AD/DC group rather than to the comparison group. When comparing the two anxiety groups with each other, we found that inconsistent paternal discipline increased and children’s negative affectivity decreased the probability of children of being in the AD group rather than in the AD/DC group. The results suggest that paternal parenting behaviors show different associations with internalizing disorders at preschool age than maternal parenting behaviors. This underlines the importance of including fathers in the prevention and treatment of internalizing disorders at preschool age.     

Creative Self-Efficacy: Correlates in Middle and Secondary Students

ABSTRACT: This study examined correlates of creative self-efficacy (i.e., self-judgments of creative ability) in middle and secondary students (N = 1,322). Results indicate that students' mastery- and performance-approach beliefs and teacher feedback on creative ability were positively related to students' creative self-efficacy. Creative self-efficacy was also linked to student reports of their teachers not listening to them and sometimes feeling that their teachers had given up on them. Students with higher levels of creative self-efficacy were significantly more likely to hold more positive beliefs about their academic abilities in all subject areas and were significantly more likely to indicate that they planned to attend college than students with lower levels of creative self-efficacy. Finally, students with higher levels of creative self-efficacy were significantly more likely to report higher levels of participation in after-school academics and after- school group activities. Implications for creativity research and practice are discussed.     

Bicultural Effects on the Creative Potential of Chinese and French Children

This study examined possible bicultural effects on creative potential of children in four groups of Chinese and French children in Hong Kong and Paris. An international battery of widely used divergent measures (Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests; WKCT) and newly constructed divergent-plus-integrative measures (Evaluation of Potential Creativity; EPoC) was established for assessment. Study 1 showed that most measures of WKCT and EPoC were reasonably high in reliability and they had expected correlations with the fluency scores of some subtests of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Study 2 found some interestingly mixed bicultural effects favoring verbal divergent responses for French children and graphic integrative responses for Chinese children. Compared with Paris-French children, the bicultural Hong Kong-French children had significantly higher scores in figural fluency, figural flexibility, and figural uniqueness of WKCT (requiring only verbal divergent responses) but significantly lower scores in the graphic divergent-exploratory measure of EPoC. Compared with Hong Kong-Chinese children, the bicultural Paris-Chinese children had significantly higher scores in the graphic convergent-integrative measure of EPoC, but significantly lower scores in verbal fluency, verbal flexibility, figural fluency, figural flexibility, figural uniqueness, and figural unusualness of WKCT. Implications of the mixed bicultural effects in relation to the diverse creativity measures and children groups are discussed.     

History Assessments of Thinking: A Validity Study

This article reports a validity study of History Assessments of Thinking (HATs), which are short, constructed-response assessments of historical thinking. In particular, this study focuses on aspects of cognitive validity, which is an examination of whether assessments tap the intended constructs. Think-aloud interviews with 26 high school students were used to examine the thinking elicited by 8 HATs and multiple-choice versions of these tasks. Results showed that although both HATs and multiple-choice items tapped historical thinking processes, HATs better reflected student proficiency in historical thinking than their multiple-choice counterparts. Item format also influenced the thinking elicited, with multiple-choice items eliciting more instances of construct-irrelevant reasoning than the constructed-response versions. Implications for history assessment are discussed.     

Exploring Pathways From Television Viewing to Academic Achievement in School Age Children

The author's purpose in this study was to test 4 hypotheses that proposed different paths for the influences of children's television viewing on their academic achievement. Data were drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The population for this study included 1,203 children between the ages of 6 and 13 years from the CDS-PSID data set. The author used structural equation modeling to test pathways from children's television viewing to their academic achievement. The author assumed that children's television viewing hindered their academic achievement by reducing certain traits that related to academic achievement. Results showed that 3 hypothetical models fit the data—the time-displacement hypothesis, the mental effort-passivity hypothesis, and the attention-arousal hypothesis. A 4th hypothetical model, the learning-information hypothesis, which proposed that children's television viewing practices stimulate their academic achievement, was not supported. In sum, children who watched more television tended to spend less time doing homework, studying, and reading for leisure. In addition, their behaviors became more impulsive, which resulted in an eventual decrease in their academic achievement.