Developmental course of the temporal relationship between gaze direction and vocal production in typical and Down's syndrome infants

This study was aimed at examining the temporal relationship between gaze and vocal production behaviour among typically developing infants, infants with Down's syndrome, and their mothers. If gaze–voice timing behaviour is an organizing principle of communicative interaction in typical population, then studying it should provide insight into how children with Down's syndrome and their mothers use this temporal relationship to structure their exchanges. Forty-four mother–infant dyads (22 dyads with a Down's syndrome child and 22 with a typical child) were observed. The developmental course of timing pattern was not different between DS and typically developing infants from 4 to 19 months (DA). Insofar as the timing patterns differed between DS and typical infants at 20 months, this could be explained by their differing level of language acquisition. With the use of language, the timing patterns will reappear equal in the both populations. Results suggest that (i) the children's behaviours could be partially explained by the behaviours of their mothers. The mother–child dyad would be the mould that shapes the child's future sociolinguistic skills, and (ii) for the two populations, the timing-pattern changes could be explained by the emergence of language.     

Ethnic differences during social interactions of preschoolers in same-ethnic and cross-ethnic dyads

Dyadic interactions of 30 Asian-Canadian and 30 French-Canadian preschool children were analyzed in term of social participation, initiation, responses strategies and social interchange. Results showed a preference for same-ethnic partners to play more interactively together, while with a cross-ethnic partner they played more solitarily in the presence of the peer. To initiate their interactions, Asian-Canadian children made more co-operative initiations (helping or assisting the peer largely nonverbally) whereas French-Canadian children used more affiliative verbalizations to initiate the interaction. Moreover, Asian-Canadian children initiated more conflictual interactions, during same-ethnic interactions, by taking an object from the other child, and they used more of both submission and counter-attack behaviours than French-Canadian children. Finally, children of both groups showed synchronous activity regardless of the ethnicity of the play partner. Consistent with studies with older children, findings from the present study revealed that the quality of preschoolers' social interactions is influenced by the ethnicity of the playmate.     

Sucking Behavior: A Review of the Literature

One hundred and twenty alienated alcoholics were exposed to high and low status models claiming task success rates of 25% or 50%. The effects of such modeling on the subjects' claimed task success and mood were complex. Subjects exposed to a two-peer 2.5% rate increased their claimed task success on two tasks and decreased their depressive mood. Subjects exposed to a single-peer 50% rate changed only mood scores apparently due to rejection of the model (Semantic Differential). Overall findings suggest that behavioral changes produced appropriate mood changes and that modeling of modest success rates can produce these changes.     

Preschool Boys’ Development of Emotional Self-Regulation Strategies in a Sample At Risk for Behavior Problems

Little longitudinal research has been conducted on changes in children's emotional self-regulation strategy (SRS) use after infancy, particularly for children at risk. In this study, the authors examined changes in boys’ emotional SRS from toddlerhood through preschool. Repeated observational assessments using delay of gratification tasks at ages 2, 3, and 4 years were examined with both variable- and person-oriented analyses in a low-income sample of boys (N = 117) at risk for early problem behavior. Results were consistent with theory on emotional SRS development in young children. Children initially used more emotion-focused SRS (e.g., comfort seeking) and transitioned to greater use of planful SRS (e.g., distraction) by 4 years of age. Person-oriented analysis using trajectory analysis found similar patterns from 2 to 4 years, with small groups of boys showing delayed movement away from emotion-focused strategies or delay in the onset of regular use of distraction. The results provide a foundation for future researchers to examine the development of SRS in low-income young children.     

Individual Differences Associated with Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Ambiguous Social Situations in which Rejection Might be Inferred

This study sought to examine the extent to which undergraduates' experiences with and attitudes relevant to rejection may be associated with their emotional and behavioral responses to ambiguous social situations in which rejection might be inferred. Undergraduate students completed questionnaires that assessed their experiences with and attitudes relevant to being rejected. Next, each participant read six hypothetical scenarios that described various situations that could be interpreted as interpersonal rejection. Following each scenario, participants completed questionnaires that assessed their emotional and behavioral responses to the hypothetical situation. Analyses revealed that the participants' experiences with rejection (and, to a lesser extent, their rejection-relevant attitudes) were associated with a negative emotional response and some negative behavioral responses. In sum, when another individual's interpersonal behavior has an uncertain intent, undergraduates' prior experiences with rejection may be especially important in determining the extent to which they feel and act as if they have been rejected.     

Secrets and Disclosures: How Young Children Handle Secrets

The authors examined the influence of content and verbal cues on young children's understanding of secret information and of its disclosure. Participants were 209 5- and 6-year-old children in an experiment where a puppet, named Zinc, was the protagonist. Children were asked to whom Zinc would disclose a list of pieces of information, some of which are considered secrets. Children could choose between Zinc's friend, a nonfriend, both friend and nonfriend, or nobody. Participants were divided in 2 experiment groups: In the first group a prior verbal cue was given to the participants that some information might be secret, whereas in the second group no prior cue was presented. Results showed that young children, similar to older individuals, differentiated between secrets and nonsecrets partly on the basis of content, and chose to withhold secrets more than nonsecrets or to share secrets more with friends than with nonfriends, following the restrictive self-disclosure pattern. In contrast, young children did not withhold nonsecret information, but they shared it with friends and nonfriends. However, when given verbal cues regarding potential secrecy of the information, young children chose more restrictive disclosure patterns for all types of content.     

Argument Structure,Argument Content,and Cognitive Change in Children's Peer Interaction

In this experimental study, the author examined whether children's conversations play a role in the processes of influence between peers. Children, aged 8 to 10 years, who were at different levels of moral development participated. The conversations of 120 children were coded and analyzed in terms of argument structure and content. Results indicated that the differences in structure between boys' and girls' arguments are stylistic and do not influence conversation outcomes. The children's use of the structural features of conversations suggested that when a more advanced position is adopted, the arguments themselves appear to inspire cognitive change. However, when a less advanced position is adopted, the children who influence their peers invoke a particular and insistent conversational style. Results are discussed in terms of transmission and constructivist accounts of the role of social interaction in cognitive development.     

Parent-Child Psychotherapy: A Follow-Up Study Comparing Two Techniques

The “lost letter technique” was validated against actual election returns in two randomly selected precincts in Greensboro, North Carolina. The technique was not successful in predicting the outcome of the presidential race. It was found that letters addressed to The Health Research Center were significantly more likely to be returned than letters addressed to presidential candidates. This indicated that the failure to predict was due either to voter apathy in this particular election or to an active dislike of both candidates.     

New Beginnings–an experience-based programme addressing the attachment relationship between mothers and their babies in prisons

Data about the quality of attachment between infants and parents in high-risk populations suggests that early intervention may be advantageous for positive developmental outcomes for the child. Mothers in prison represent a high-risk parenting population in terms of both attachment histories and economic and social risk factors. New Beginnings was constructed as a short term, experience-based programme for mothers and infants in the Mother and Baby Units of two UK women's prisons. It is based on the early intervention model developed at the Anna Freud Centre. The programme was piloted in 2004–5, with 27 participating dyads. This paper presents an overview of the pilot stage. Our aim is to introduce the thinking that went into the programme and to present initial observations concerning the effect of the programme. We describe the development of a framework for the programme and its preliminary evaluation using pre- and post-interview protocols concerning the mothers' thoughts and feelings about their babies. We used the Parent Development Interview, for both a qualitative analysis of the major themes in connection to child rearing and quantitative measures of reflective capacity in relation to the child on the part of mother-participants.     

Socially guided attention influences infants’ communicative behavior

For effective prelinguistic communication, infants must be able to direct their attention, vocalizations, and nonverbal gestures in social interactions. The purpose of our study was to examine how different styles of caregiver responses influenced infant attentional and communicative behavior in social interactions, based on prior studies that have shown influences of responsiveness on attention, language and cognitive outcomes. Infants were exposed to redirective and sensitive behavior systematically using an ABA design to examine real-time changes in infants’ behavior as a function of caregiver responses. During the two baseline “A” periods, caregivers were instructed to play as they would at home. During the social response “B” period, caregivers were instructed to respond sensitively to infants’ behavior on one visit and redirectively on the other visit. Results demonstrated that when caregivers behaved redirectively, infants shifted their attention more frequently and decreased the duration of their visual attention. Caregiver responses also resulted in changes in vocal and gesture production. Infants decreased their production of caregiver-directed vocalizations, gestures, and gesture-vocal combinations during in the redirective condition. Results suggest that caregiver sensitive responding to infants’ attentional focus may be one influence on infants’ attentional and prelinguistic communicative behavior.