Emotion Regulation in At‐Risk Preschoolers: Longitudinal Associations and Influences of Maternal Histories of Risk

Emotion regulation is a key challenge of early childhood. The present study examined emotion regulation behaviour longitudinally from infancy to preschool. The continuity of emotion regulation was explored within the larger ecological context of maternal childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal and maternal use of constructive and non‐constructive behaviours. Forty‐five mothers with childhood histories of aggression or social withdrawal from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, longitudinal, intergenerational study, participated with their preschool children. Infants' emotion regulation behaviour was observed during interactions with their mothers when they were 5½ months of age. Emotion regulation in these same children as preschoolers was coded during an interference task using the Preschooler Self‐Regulatory Scheme. Longitudinal findings demonstrated continuity in children's use of emotion regulation behaviours from infancy to preschool. Higher maternal childhood histories of risk, specifically social withdrawal, contributed to the prediction of preschoolers' increased attention‐seeking behaviours. Mothers' use of non‐constructive verbalizations predicted more maladaptive styles of emotion regulation in their preschoolers. The findings highlight the importance of helping children develop adaptive emotion regulation skills from a young age and have implications for the design of preventive intervention programmes to help parents foster children's emotion regulation abilities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-Perceived Competence as a Mediator Between Maternal Feedback and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents

Self-report, other-report, clinical interview, and behavioral observations of evaluative maternal feedback (e.g., positive feedback, criticism), adolescent depressive symptoms, and self-perceived competence were obtained from 72 adolescents and their mothers. Most path analyses supported the hypothesis that adolescent self-perceived competence completely mediates the relation between negative maternal feedback and adolescent depressive symptoms, even after controlling for prior levels of depression. Consistent with Cole's competency-based model of depression (D. A. Cole, 1990), these results suggest that high levels of negative maternal feedback (coupled with low levels of positive feedback) are associated with adolescent negative self-perceptions, which in turn place adolescents at risk for depressive symptoms.     

Mother–Son Interactions in Families of Boys With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder With and Without Oppositional Behavior

Parenting responsiveness and over-reactivity were assessed among 25 mothers of 7–9-year-old sons with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and oppositional behavior (Oppositional Defiant, OD), 24 mothers of sons with ADHD only, and 38 mothers of nonproblem sons. Responsiveness was observed during mother–son play and clean-up interactions and over-reactivity was assessed using self-reports of parenting in discipline situations. Mothers of sons with ADHD/OD were less responsive and more over-reactive than mothers of nonproblem sons, and mothers of sons with ADHD only did not differ from the other groups. Mothers of sons with ADHD/OD reported more hostility than mothers of nonproblem sons, and controlling for maternal hostility eliminated the significant group differences in responsiveness during clean-up and in over-reactivity. Controlling for the childs ADHD subtype did not alter the pattern of results. The implications for addressing responsiveness and over-reactivity as components of parent-mediated behavioral treatments for ADHD are considered.     

Belief,Apparitions, and Rationality: The Social Scientific Study of Religion after Wittgenstein<Subscript>1</Subscript>

The goal I pursue is to redefine the study of religious epistemology on the basis of an ethnomethodological extension of Wittgenstein. This approach shows that the nature of religious belief and its relation to facts, proofs, and empirical reality are matters that are dealt with by ordinary members of society. The examination of this lay epistemology reveals that – far from being a settled and established entity – religious belief is a polymorphous phenomenon. Religious belief is a pragmatic resource whose configuration is shaped to allow the accomplishment of interactional moves within specific contexts. I defend this thesis by analyzing accounts pertaining to a contemporary religious apparition claim.     

Developmentally delayed children's influence attempts with mothers predict interactions with peers over time

We examined whether influence attempts of 4–6 year-old children with mild developmental delays occurring when interacting with their mothers predicted children's interactions with peers two years later. Hierarchical regressions controlling for relevant child characteristics and a measure of direct parental actions to influence their children's peer interactions revealed a consistent association between influence attempts with mothers and four important aspects of children's peer relationships: successful social bids to peers, initiations to peers, extent of involvement with peers, and overall level of peer interactions. Results were consistent with social communicative processes likely to emerge during children's influence attempts with mothers, which are relevant to peer relationships. The fact that influence attempts with mothers were associated with peer interactions over a time period when peers occupy a more dominant role in children's social relationships supports the role of indirect family influences as a potential intervention strategy to further the peer competence of children with delays.     

Teaching and learning as a bi-directional activity: investigating dyadic interactions between child teachers and child learners

Building upon Vygotsky's ideas about the shift from other- to self-regulation in the “zone of proximal development,” we study how children, when teaching a board game that they previously co-constructed with a peer to a new child, reciprocally negotiate the roles of teacher and learner. From our investigation, we find that the quality of the relationship between teacher and learner changes from one reflecting guidance to one reflecting collaboration. This collaborative model of teaching and learning differs from more traditional models by which an active adult teacher is depicted as transmitting knowledge to a relatively passive child learner. Instead, we contend and demonstrate that the practice of teaching and learning is best viewed as a bi-directional interaction that results in the cognitive growth of both teacher and learner.     

ABCs of principal–agent interactions: Accurate predictions,biased processes,and contrasts between working and delegating

We experimentally investigate people’s evaluations of incentive pay contracts and people’s predictions of others’ evaluations of incentive pay contracts. We emphasize that the construction of evaluations and predictions often includes two substeps, involving likelihood judgment and likelihood weighting. Predictors appear to be biased at both substeps but in opposing directions. Accurate overall predictions thus sometimes reflect two errors that are of the same magnitude and thereby offset. Moreover, predictions can become more inaccurate if one step is debiased but the other is left untouched. Importantly, principals deciding whether to delegate a task are susceptible to just one of the biases. Delegation assessments are thus often flawed, reflecting a single error that is not offset.     

The quality of teacher-student interactions: associations with first graders' academic and behavioral outcomes

The associations between the quality of teacher-student interactions and first grade academic and adaptive behavior outcomes were examined in a study of 106 Portuguese students in 64 first grade classrooms. Students' vocabulary, print concepts, math, and adaptive skills were assessed both at the end of preschool and in first grade. Classrooms were observed in the spring of first grade. After taking into account family risk factors and preschool skills, the quality of teacher-student interactions, particularly in terms of classroom organization, was positively associated with students' first grade vocabulary and print concepts. In addition, classroom quality predicted number identification outcomes differently depending on student skills prior to school entry. Students with lower preschool math skills seemed to benefit from higher quality teacher-student interactions. These findings provide further support for the unique contribution of the quality of teacher-student interactions in first grade and suggest that it may be an important mechanism to improve academic skills.     

Linking Birth Order to Political Leadership: The Impact of Parents or Sibling Interaction?

Despite mounting evidence that first-born children are overrepresented among incumbents in political office, there is no consensus about the cause of this overrepresentation. Some stress the impact of differential parenting, arguing that the first-born receive a larger share of parental resources and have a greater need to live up to parental expectations. Others emphasize the interaction among siblings, arguing that first-born children are better prepared for power struggles, having experience both as followers and as leaders within the family. This study, using birth-order data for nearly 1,200 incumbents in various offices in local and national politics in the Netherlands, found more support for the parental impact perspective. Singletons were also overrepresented among incumbents, whereas middle-born children were underrepresented. The data suggest that this birth-order effect is weaker among younger generations and is more pronounced among women.     

Variability in parenting behaviours during play and during mealtimes with toddlers

Few empirical studies have explored variability in parenting behaviours observed in a mealtime setting as well as in a play setting with young children. We analysed data from 282 parent–toddler dyads who participated in the Play & Grow study in the United States in 2017–2019. Parent–child interactions were video recorded during play in the laboratory when the child was 18 months old and then during mealtime in the home 6 months later. Standardised coding procedures were used to rate parenting behaviours (sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, positive regard, detachment, intrusive control and negative regard). We describe correlations and differences and variability in parenting behaviour between the two assessments and relative to child sex, gestational age, parent education level, household composition and household income. Detachment was lower on average during play at 18 months compared to during mealtime at 24 months (Cohen's d = −0.40), and the other five parenting behaviours were greater on average during play than during mealtime (d = 0.18–0.43). Sociodemographic characteristics were unrelated to the magnitude of individual differences across contexts in any of the parenting behaviours. Implications for research on associations between parent–child interactions and risk for childhood obesity are discussed.