Father Absence and Familial Antisocial Characteristics

This study examined family antisocial characteristics according to whether biological fathers live at home and agree to be study participants. Antisocial symptoms were tabulated for 161 clinic-referred children and their parents. Families with fathers at home had fewer paternal, maternal, and child antisocial symptoms, and scored higher on multiple SES indicators, than did families with departed fathers. Antisocial characteristics were highest, and SES was lowest, when fathers could not be located or recruited. Results suggest that requiring father participation (as in family-trio genetic designs) screens out the more antisocial families. Of clinical interest, antisocial behavior in any family member is more likely if the father is absent and nonparticipating. The heightened antisocial behavior in children associated with absent biological fathers was not mitigated by presence of stepfathers and was not accounted for by lower SES. The ethical use of mother report on absent fathers is discussed.     

Can Home Visitation Enhance Maternal Social Support?

This study investigates the impacts of Healthy Start, a statewide, home visitation program, on the social support systems of 212 disadvantaged mothers in Oahu, Hawaii. Maternal support was assessed at the time these mothers gave birth and 12 months later with the Maternal Social Support Index. Comparisons of mothers randomly assigned to visited (n = 108) or nonvisited (n = 104) conditions uncover few differences on structural or affiliational aspects of support after 12 months. Visited mothers, however, are significantly less likely to report a decline in satisfaction with a close adult than nonvisited mothers do. The discussion examines the challenges of fostering social support and the ability of home visitation efforts to achieve this outcome.     

Language development of pre‐school children born to teenage mothers

An Erratum has been published for this article in Infant and Child Development 10(4) 2001, 241. This paper compares the language development of pre‐school children born to teenage (n=22) and comparison mothers (n=20) and examines the extent to which differences in language development can be explained by social background, child and parenting factors. Mothers and children were assessed at home using a range of measures, including a structured interview, the language scales of the Child Development Inventory, the HOME Inventory, and videotaped mother‐child interaction. Results showed that children of teenage mothers perform significantly poorer than children of comparison mothers on measures of expressive language and language comprehension. Subsequent analyses showed that these differences are largely explained by differences in the parenting behaviour of teenage and comparison mothers. Specifically, maternal verbal stimulation and intrusiveness accounted for the relationship between teenage motherhood and children's poorer language comprehension, while maternal intrusiveness and involvement with the child account for the relationship between teenage motherhood and children's poorer expressive language development. These findings highlight the importance of early mother–child interaction for children's language development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

6—12岁儿童脑波超慢功率涨落分布及发展特点

对172名6-12岁的正常儿童进行脑波超慢功率涨落特点的研究。结果表明：(1)各组优势涨落平均功率空间分布表现出额低枕高的前后梯度;(2)随着年龄的增加,不同的脑区其发展趋势是不同的,且逆转现象逐渐减少;(3)左右脑表现出左小右大的不对称性;(4)男女生脑波优势涨落功率的空间分布、逆转趋势、方位等有差异。上述结果说明,脑波超慢功率涨落与儿童的成熟过程及功能状态有密切关系。     

They should have known: Hindsight and outcome biases in child abduction cases

Two cognitive biases might partially account for public support of the ineffective AMBER Alert system. Hindsight bias is a cognitive error in which people with outcome knowledge overestimate the likelihood that this particular outcome would occur; outcome bias is an error made in evaluating the quality of a decision once the outcome is known. Two experiments assessed whether hindsight and outcome bias occur in child abduction scenarios. Study 1 was a pre/posttest experiment that examined whether hindsight bias occurs in situations in which the identity of the abductor (stranger or parent) is manipulated between groups, and all participants are told the child was killed. Study 2, a between-subjects experiment, examined whether hindsight and outcome biases occur in situations in which no AMBER Alert was issued (because the situation did not meet the legal requirements to issue an Alert), and manipulated the identity of the abductor and the outcome (child safely returned, killed, or not outcome provided). Hindsight and outcome biases occurred in both studies, given the correct set of circumstances. Abductor identity also impacted outcome estimates. Results from the two studies indicate that hindsight and outcome bias occur, but this is dependent on the outcome (child killed, child returned safely, no outcome provided) and the identity of the abductor (stranger, dangerous parent, non-dangerous parent). Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Mother–Child Book‐Sharing and Children's Storytelling Skills in Ethnically Diverse,Low‐Income Families

The present study examined book‐sharing interactions between mothers and their 4‐year‐old children from African American (n = 62), Dominican (n = 67), Mexican (n = 59) and Chinese (n = 82) low‐income U.S. families, and children's independent storytelling skills one year later. Mothers' book‐sharing style was analysed in terms of how much storyline information they provided (story components), the extent to which they asked children about the story (dialogic emphasis) and which features of the story they highlighted (story content). African American mothers referred to more story components than did Dominican mothers, and Mexican mothers surpassed Dominican and Chinese mothers. Mothers of all groups were low in dialogic emphasis; they predominantly narrated rather than asked about the story, although Mexican mothers asked relatively more questions than did African American and Dominican mothers. In terms of content, compared with other groups, African American mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘individual goals’, and Chinese mothers were most likely to emphasize ‘negative consequences’. Latino mothers were more likely to emphasize ‘emotions’ than were Chinese mothers. Children's storytelling styles partially mirrored those seen in their mothers. Mothers' dialogic emphasis related to children's contributions to book‐sharing, which in turn predicted children's later independent storytelling skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Stability of Temperament from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence:A Multi‐method,Multi‐informant Examination

Temperament is a core aspect of children's psychological functioning and is assumed to be at least somewhat stable across childhood. However, little research has assessed the stability of temperament from early childhood to early adolescence. Moreover, few studies have examined the influence of measurement and analytic methods on the stability of early temperament over periods of more than a few years. We obtained laboratory observations and mother and father reports of temperamental negative and positive emotionality and effortful control from 559 three‐year‐olds. Approximately nine years later, children and both parents completed questionnaire measures of similar temperament constructs. Zero‐order correlations revealed greater within‐informant than cross‐informant stability. In addition, compared with parent reports, early childhood laboratory measures showed greater convergent and divergent validity with child, mother, and father reports at age 12. Finally, latent temperament variables at age 3 composed of laboratory and parent‐report measures and latent variables at age 12 composed of parent and child reports showed moderate stability. There was also a weak but significant association of early effortful control with later negative and positive emotionality. Results have implications for assessing temperament and knowledge of the stability of temperament across childhood. Copyright © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Gender stereotypes underlie child custody decisions

Using hypothetical divorce cases we examine the role of gender stereotypes in decisions about child custody. Good mothers received greater custody allocations than did good fathers across a tightly matched pair of vignettes in three culturally distinct samples: Argentina, Brazil, and the United States (Study 1). Two follow-up studies indicated that the warmth dimension of stereotype content partly accounted for the asymmetry in custody awards: The proportion of maternal-primary custody was predicted by the tendency to ascribe warmth-related traits—such as friendliness, generosity, or trustworthiness—to mothers (Study 2) and associate them with female over male nouns (Study 3). We also found that endorsing shared custody mitigated the asymmetry in custody awards documented in our studies. Together, these results highlight the interplay of stereotyped attitudes and egalitarian commitments in the context of judicial decisions about child custody.