The Relationship Between Parenting Style and Children's Adjustment: The Parents' Perspective

We examined the relationship between authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles and socio-emotional adjustment in elementary school children as reported from the parents' perspective. Mothers of first through fifth graders provided information about parenting style as well as children's competencies and problem behaviors. Teachers provided ratings of children's adjustment for a subset of the participants. Results indicated that authoritative parenting was associated negatively with parent- and teacher-rated maladaptive behavior, and positively with indicators of healthy adjustment. Correlations between authoritarian parenting and adjustment were either small or non-significant. Regression analyses indicated that authoritative parenting was more predictive of children's competence than maladaptation (22% versus 10% of variance). The effects of parenting style on adjustment were not moderated by demographic variables, such as the child's gender, grade level, ethnicity, and family income.     

Self‐restraint and self‐injury: a demonstration of separate functions and response classes

We evaluated the self‐injurious behavior (SIB) and self‐restraint (SR) of an 11‐year‐old boy with severe mental retardation that were suspected to be functionally unrelated. A functional analysis (consequences provided for SIB) resulted in near‐zero levels of SIB across experimental conditions and did not indicate a specific function of SIB. In contrast, high, undifferentiated levels of SR were observed during the attention, control, alone, and demand conditions. Further analysis of a possible tangible function of SIB using pairwise comparisons resulted in a high rate of SIB during the contingent tangible condition, no SIB in the noncontingent tangible condition, and comparable levels of SR in both conditions. A subsequent analysis using restraint blocking during play and no‐play contexts suggested that SR produced automatic reinforcement under conditions of low ambient stimulation. Thus, SIB and SR were shown to be functionally independent and maintained by distinct consequences. The results are briefly discussed and suggestions for future research are provided. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determining Normal Deviance: Adolescent Drug Use?

This research examines change in lifetime drug use frequency among three drugs, marijuana, alcohol and inhalants, and antisocial behaviors using a cohort longitudinal model. Findings indicate marijuana and alcohol use increases with grade level. Inhalants are the only drugs which use decline with grade level. Focus of the paper is whether the use of these three drugs is a normal part of adolescent development. Using three determinants: associations between drug use and grade and scores on an antisocial behavior scale; and percent of abstainers; the authors determined none of the three drugs represent normal deviance. Data are from 2008 thru the 2014 the Caring Communities Youth Survey (CCYS). The concept of normal deviance is discussed.     

Associations of transcranial doppler velocity,age, and gender with cognitive function in children with sickle cell anemia in Nigeria

Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) have elevated cerebral blood velocity relative to healthy peers. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the association between cerebral blood velocity, measured by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound, age, and gender with cognitive function in children with SCA in Nigeria. Eighty-three children (M_age = 9.10, SD = 1.90 years; 55% female) with SCA in Nigeria completed cognitive assessments and a TCD ultrasound. The association between TCD velocity and measures of perceptual reasoning (Raven’s Progressive Matrices), working memory (WISC-IV Digit Span), and executive planning (Tower of London, TOL) were assessed. Results showed that elevated TCD velocity significantly predicted lower scores on TOL Time Violations and Total Problem-Solving Time when controlling for BMI, hemoglobin level, and parent education, suggesting that TCD velocity is related to the efficiency of executive function. Further, age was negatively related to children’s performance on the Ravens Matrices and TOL Total Correct, and boys showed greater deficits on the TOL Total Correct relative to girls. Moderation analyses for gender showed that there was a conditional negative association between TCD velocity and Digit Span for boys, but not for girls. Findings suggest that children with SCA in Nigeria with elevated TCD velocity are at risk for deficits in efficiency of executive planning, and boys with elevated TCD velocity are particularly at increased risk for deficits in auditory working memory. Implications of this study are important for interventions to reduce cerebral blood velocity and the use of TCD in this population.     

Chinese acceptance of mistreatment by in-relation offenders can be neutralized by triggering a “group” collectivism perspective

Examining the effect of culture on workplace revenge, we predict and find that people in a Chinese cultural context are more likely than people in an American cultural context to adjust their response to mistreatment based on being, or not being, “in relation” to the harm-doer. Specifically, Chinese people are more likely to let a harm-doer off the hook if they have a prior relationship with him or her, while Americans are less likely to do so. However, this Chinese sensitivity to relational status with the harm-doer ceases to be a factor if they receive a stimulus that shifts their perspective from relational collectivism to group collectivism. Implications for Chinese management and society are explored.     

Effects of student pairing and public review on physical activity during school recess

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of student pairing and feedback during recess on children's step counts. During baseline, participants wore a sealed pedometer during recess. During intervention, we paired participants with higher step counts with participants with lower step counts. We encouraged teams to compete for the highest step count each day and provided feedback on their performance during each recess session. Results showed a large mean increase in step count from baseline to intervention. These results suggest that children's steps during recess can be increased with a simple and cost‐effective intervention.     

Escape from rich‐to‐lean transitions: Stimulus change and timeout

Extended pausing during discriminable transitions from rich‐to‐lean conditions can be viewed as escape (i.e., rich‐to‐lean transitions function aversively). In the current experiments, pigeons’ key pecking was maintained by a multiple fixed‐ratio fixed‐ratio schedule of rich or lean reinforcers. Pigeons then were provided with another, explicit, mechanism of escape by changing the stimulus from the transition‐specific stimulus used in the multiple schedule to a mixed‐schedule stimulus (Experiment 1) or by producing a period of timeout in which the stimulus was turned off and the schedule was suspended (Experiment 2). Overall, escape was under joint control of past and upcoming reinforcer magnitudes, such that responses on the escape key were most likely during rich‐to‐lean transitions, and second‐most likely during lean‐to‐lean transitions. Even though pigeons pecked the escape key, they paused before doing so, and the latency to begin the fixed ratio (i.e., the pause) remained extended during rich‐to‐lean transitions. These findings suggest that although the stimulus associated with rich‐to‐lean transitions functioned aversively, pausing is more than simply escape responding from the stimulus.     

Adolescent Work and Alcohol Use: Moderation by Neighborhood Context and the Role of Peers

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this study looks at the adolescent work and binge drinking relationship among a sample of 4,826 adolescents. The article assesses variability in the work–binge drinking relationship by social class and neighborhood disadvantage and seeks to explain variability by considering social control and social learning processes. Results reveal that the detrimental relationships between work intensity and binge drinking are stronger for those from more advantaged neighborhoods. Results also show that perceived peer substance use explains neighborhood disadvantage differences in the relationship between intense work and binge drinking.