The development of the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire using classical and Rasch analyses

Empathic responding is implicated in antisocial behaviors such as bullying, sexual offending, and violent crime. Identifying children and adolescents at risk for antisocial behavior and evaluating interventions designed to address problem behaviors require valid and reliable measures. Definitional controversies and limited measurement models have hindered measurement. This study describes the development and analysis of the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire (CEAQ) using both classical and modern techniques. Rasch analyses provided probabilistic results over large item and person groups, enabling meaningful inferences from patterns of responses at the construct level. Analyses of fifth through seventh graders' responses to the final version of the CEAQ provide support for its reliability, validity, and functionality. Four meaningful item clusters were identified, each reflecting more cognitively advanced empathic attitudes. These analyses suggest that the CEAQ provides a theoretically sound, hierarchically meaningful measure of empathic attitudes that will be useful in identification and intervention with children and adolescents at risk for antisocial behavior.     

Perceived organizational support as a mediator between relational exchange and organizational identification

Using cross-level data from 364 supervisor–subordinate dyads, we examined how relational exchange quality, perceived organizational support (POS), and organizational identification interrelate. We found subordinate POS mediates the relationship between leader-member exchange (i.e., LMX) and organizational identification. We also found the relational context matters—namely, the immediate supervisor’s relationship with his or her manager (i.e., leader–leader exchange, LLX). Our findings suggest higher quality LLX creates a spillover of resources and reduces the negative association between lower quality LMX and POS. Our study extends both social exchange and social identity theories. First, we delineate how relational exchange quality associates with one’s identity in the organization—placing POS as an integrative mechanism between exchange and identity. Second, we expand the purview of social exchange theory by including other proximal (and interpersonal) relationships as context for social exchange between the individual and organization. Limitations, future research directions, and practical implications are also discussed.     

Renunciation feminised? Joint renunciation of female–male pairs in Bengali Vaishnavism

The Indic category of renunciation is generally constructed in radical opposition to that of householder/worldly life (saḿsāra), by actors and analysts alike. Yet, as an institution, renunciation is also traditionally modelled on householder structures. It is created through an idiom of ‘birth’ into patrilines, albeit generated through ‘guru’ rather than ‘blood’ lineages. These contrary facets of renunciation feature in the unusual Bengali Vaishnava phenomenon of joint renunciation of a female–male pair. On the one hand joint renunciation is ostensibly a matter of death to one (householder) patriline and of birth into another (renouncer) patriline. In this sense it is a male-oriented phenomenon, replicating householder structures. On the other hand Vaishnava renouncers also construct renunciation in opposition to householder life, that is, in terms of liminality and transcendence of categories. These characteristics are in turn identified as ‘female’ and are associated with a high valuation of women. Renunciation has often been considered a conservative or marginal force in South Asian society, although a few scholars have argued for its radical potential among subaltern groups. Studies of female renouncers have shown that the price of greater autonomy conferred by renunciation is often the virtual denial of ‘womanhood’ itself. My intention here is to highlight a shift in balance, in which renunciation is feminised in significant respects, with potentially liberating results for women. This suggests indigenous sources for ideas of gender equality or even female superiority, normally assumed to be of ‘Western’ provenance.     

Learning what feelings to desire: socialization of ideal affect through children's storybooks

Previous findings suggest that cultural factors influence ideal affect (i.e., the affective states that people ideally want to feel). Three studies tested the hypothesis that cultural differences in ideal affect emerge early in life and are acquired through exposure to storybooks. In Study 1, the authors established that consistent with previous findings, European American preschoolers preferred excited (vs. calm) states more (indexed by activity and smile preferences) and perceived excited (vs. calm) states as happier than Taiwanese Chinese preschoolers. In Study 2, it was observed that similar differences were reflected in the pictures (activities, expressions, and smiles) of best-selling storybooks in the United States and Taiwan. Study 3 found that across cultures, exposure to exciting (vs. calm) storybooks altered children's preferences for excited (vs. calm) activities and their perceptions of happiness. These findings suggest that cultural differences in ideal affect may be due partly to differential exposure to calm and exciting storybooks.     

Epistemic motives and cultural conformity: need for closure, culture, and context as determinants of conflict judgments

Three studies support the proposal that need for closure (NFC) involves a desire for consensual validation that leads to cultural conformity. Individual differences in NFC interact with cultural group variables to determine East Asian versus Western differences in conflict style and procedural preferences (Study 1), information gathering in disputes (Study 2), and fairness judgment in reward allocations (Study 3). Results from experimental tests indicate that the relevance of NFC to cultural conformity reflects consensus motives rather than effort minimization (Study 2) or political conservatism (Study 3). Implications for research on conflict resolution and motivated cultural cognition are discussed.     

Does the neighborhood context alter the link between youth's after-school time activities and developmental outcomes? A multilevel analysis

This article examines links between different measures of after-school time activity participation (5 specific activities and breadth) on youth's developmental outcomes (anxiety/depression, delinquency, and substance use) over 6 years and whether these links are moderated by neighborhood-level variables. The sample (N=1,315) of 9- and 12-year-old youth was drawn from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), a multilevel, longitudinal study of youth from 80 Chicago neighborhoods. Findings revealed that different types of activities and patterns of participation over time were associated with outcomes for youth and that, to some extent, these outcomes varied with neighborhood characteristics. In brief, sports participation was associated with fewer anxious/depressed symptoms, higher average delinquency scores, and increased substance use-both average scores and growth over time. Participation in the arts and student government were negatively associated with average substance use and attenuated increases in usage over time. Participation in community-based clubs was positively associated with youth's anxiety/depression in violent neighborhoods only, whereas church groups were protective against substance use in nonviolent neighborhoods. The direction of the influence of breadth of participation was nonlinear for delinquency such that delinquency scores were highest among youth who engaged in an average number of activities.     

Interdependence,social motives,and outcome satisfaction in multiparty negotiation

What makes negotiators satisfied with their outcomes? In this study, we examined whether interpersonal interdependence, in the context of multi‐party multi‐issue negotiation, affected negotiators' satisfaction with their individual and group outcomes. We integrated principles from interdependence, social comparison, and social value theories to generate hypotheses about the social‐evaluative nature of satisfaction with negotiation outcomes. Controlling for differences in quality of individual outcomes, we found a positive association between satisfaction and individual outcome and a negative association between satisfaction and group outcome. Relative to those with prosocial social value orientation, negotiators with an individualistic social value orientation were less satisfied with the group outcome, regardless of induced motivational orientation. Neither motivational orientation nor an interaction between motivational orientation and social value orientation were related to satisfaction. We discuss the implications of our results for research on interdependence processes in negotiations and the role of social motives. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relations between maternal behaviors and urban preschool children's internal working models of attachment security

Interviewed 93 African-American, low-income women who had become pregnant as teenagers and their preschool-aged children in their homes. Mothers answered questions regarding their everyday stresses and feelings of depression. Children were assessed for receptive vocabulary ability, then video-taped completing five stories thematically related to attachment experiences with mother and rated on their security of attachment. Mothers and children were also videotaped playing together, and mothers were assessed on their sensitivity to their children's cues. After controlling for children's age and receptive vocabulary ability, mothers' sensitivity significantly predicted children's level of attachment security. The positive association between maternal sensitivity and children's security of attachment, and the strengths and weaknesses of administering the Attachment Story-Completion Task in the home with this population, are discussed. Implications for assessing attachment in the home are considered.     

Mother-toddler play interaction: A contrast of substance-exposed and nonexposed children

Recent studies have raised concerns about whether the play of cocaine-exposed or polysubstance-exposed children is deficient or disturbed, presumably as a result of the prenatal exposure. In this study, the quality of toddler play did not differ between 13 low income polysubstance-exposed and 13 low income nonexposed toddlers when rated in a 16-minute play session in their own homes with their mothers. Specifically, there were no differences in either cognitive or affective dimensions of play, as rated by observers who were blind to exposure status. In addition, the quality of maternal support for the play, as rated using the Parent/Caregiver Interaction Scale, did not differ between the two groups. Positive aspects of the mothers' behavior in supporting her child's play were predictive of higher quality child play. Power analyses suggest that the sample size was sufficient to have detected group differences if they had in fact existed. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health