The Importance of Being Honest: Correlating Self-Report Accuracy and Network Centrality with Academic Performance

This study investigates the correlation of self-report accuracy with academic performance. The sample was composed of 289 undergraduate students (96 senior and 193 junior) enrolled in two engineering classes. Age ranged between 22 and 24 years, with a slight over representation of male students (53%). Academic performance was calculated based on students' final grades in each class. The tendency to report inaccurate information was measured at the end of the Raven Progressive Matrices Test, by asking students to report their exact finishing times. We controlled for gender, age, personality traits, intelligence, and past academic performance. We also included measures of centrality in their friendship, advice and trust networks. Correlation and multiple regression analyses results indicate that lower achieving students were significantly less accurate in self-reporting data. We also found that being more central in the advice network was correlated with higher performance (r = .20, p < .001). The results are aligned with existing literature emphasizing the individual and relational factors associated with academic performance and, pending future studies, may be utilized to include a new metric of self-report accuracy that is not dependent on academic records.     

Early risk pathways to physical versus relational peer aggression: The interplay of externalizing behavior and corporal punishment varies by child sex

Children who aggress against their peers may use physical or relational forms, yet little research has looked at early childhood risk factors and characteristics that uniquely predict high levels of relational versus physical aggression in preadolescence. Accordingly, the main aim of our study was to link early corporal punishment and externalizing behavior to children's physical and relational peer aggression during preadolescence and to examine how these pathways differed by sex. Participants were 193, 3‐year‐old boys (39%) and girls who were reassessed following the transition to kindergarten (5.5 years) and preadolescence (10.5 years). A series of autoregressive, cross‐lagged path analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between child externalizing problems and corporal punishment at ages 3 and 5.5 years, and their association with physical and relational aggression at age 10.5. Multiple group analysis was used to determine whether pathways differed by sex. Three developmental pathways were identified: (i) direct associations between stable childhood externalizing problems and later physical aggression; (ii) a direct pathway from early corporal punishment to preadolescent relational and physical peer aggression; and (iii) an indirect pathway from early corporal punishment to later physical aggression via continuing externalizing problems in middle childhood. Child sex moderated the nature of these pathways, as well as the direction of association between risk and outcome variables. These data advance our understanding of the etiology of distinct forms of peer aggression and highlight the potential for more efficacious prevention and intervention efforts in the early childhood years.

     

It's more than skin‐deep: The relationship between social victimization and telomere length in adolescence

This study examined the relationship between peer victimization and telomere length (TL), an indicator of biological aging that is associated with stressors (Epel, 2009). It was predicted that social victimization would have a greater impact upon TL, as well as the frequency and severity of health complaints than physical victimization. Adolescents (M_age = 15.91 years, SD_age = 1.65) and their parents completed measures of peer victimization and physical health problems; adolescents also submitted a DNA sample for telomere analysis. Greater instances of being socially, but not physically, victimized were associated with shorter telomeres, as well as more frequent and severe health complaints. TL was also negatively related to both the frequency and severity of health problems, even after controlling for BMI, age, and sex of participant. The relationship between social victimization and health complaints via TL held only at higher levels of social victimization. These findings are the first to find an association between peer victimization and shortened telomeres.

     

童年中晚期孤独感的发展轨迹：一项潜变量增长模型分析

使用问卷法和同伴提名法对884名小学二年级学生进行历时三年的四次追踪测试, 采用潜变量增长模型建模, 检验小学2~5年级学生孤独感的变化趋势, 并考察不同性别儿童孤独感变化的差异性以及同伴接纳对孤独感变化的影响。结果发现：(1) 2~5年级小学生孤独感呈曲线递减趋势, 递减速度逐渐减缓, 起始水平及发展速度均存在显著的个体差异; (2)女孩起始的孤独感水平显著低于男孩, 而发展速度、加速度则不存在显著的性别差异; (3)较高的同伴接纳对当时儿童孤独感的降低具有显著的促进作用。研究采用孤独感发展的情境观, 并结合儿童认知、自我发展的特点对结果进行了分析。     

Evaluation of Peer Training for Teaching Abduction Prevention Skills

Child abduction is a serious problem, with approximately 100 children killed each year by nonfamily abductors. Training programs to teach children the correct skills to use if they ever come into contact with a stranger can be effective when they incorporate behavioral skills training (BST) and in-situ training (IST) into their protocol. However, these methods can be rather time and energy consuming. The current study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of a peer tutoring approach to teaching abduction prevention skills. Peer trainers implemented BST sessions and IST sessions with their younger peers. Children successfully acquired the target safety behaviors taught by the peer trainers, and use of the skills generalized to their natural environment.     

Being a non-drinking student: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Recent research suggests that safer student alcohol consumption might be assisted by understanding how social occasions are managed by non-drinkers. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with five 19 – 22 year old non-drinking English undergraduates were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. We present five inter-linked themes: ‘living with challenges to non-drinking’; ‘seeing what goes on in drinking environments’; ‘dealing with conversations about non-drinking (making excuses vs. coming out)’; ‘knowing which friends care about you’; and ‘the importance of minimising “legroom” for peer pressure’. Participants felt under persistent peer scrutiny (as a form of peer pressure) and could feel alienated in drinking environments. Talking about non-drinking was characterised by whether to ‘come out’ (as a non-drinker) or ‘fake it’ (e.g. ‘I’m on antibiotics’). Loyal friendships were reported as particularly important in this context. The decision not to drink was experienced as providing a successful buffer to peer pressure for former drinkers. Our findings unsettle traditional health promotion campaigns which advocate moderate drinking among students without always suggesting how it might be most successfully accomplished and offer tentative guidance on how non-drinking during specific social occasions might be managed more successfully. Findings are discussed in relation to extant literature and future research directions are suggested.     

Associations between authoritative parenting and the sun exposure and sun protective behaviours of adolescents and their friends

Associations between the sun exposure and sun protective behaviours of adolescents and their friends were examined along with the role played by authoritative parenting and other family and peer socialisation factors. Four hundred and two adolescents (198 males, 204 females) participated in the research. It was found that these adolescents and their friends shared similar sun exposure and sun protective behaviours and had similar parenting backgrounds. Parental authoritativeness was positively associated with the use of sun protection, even after the effects of other familial and peer variables were controlled, but not with the time spent sunbathing which was associated with friends’ behaviours. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

儿童同伴尊重的发展及社交领导性的影响: 三年追踪

对285名小学三年级和四年级儿童进行了连续三年的追踪调查,分析了儿童同伴尊重发展趋势及其在群体间的差异,探讨了社交领导性在儿童同伴尊重发展中的预测作用。结果表明：（1）童年中后期儿童与同伴之间的获得尊重与表现尊重具有显著增长趋势;（2）三年间女孩的表现尊重均高于男孩但增长速度无差异;女孩的获得尊重增长速度高于男孩;（3）儿童的社交领导性能够显著正向预测儿童同伴尊重的发展趋势。     

Understanding intuition and how the mind works

The associations between maternal reports of positive marital quality (i.e., positive emotional expressions, constructive conflict, and mothers’ marital satisfaction) and 3–6-year-olds’ (N = 62) positive peer relations were examined as a function of child temperament and gender. Although a zero-order correlation indicated that marital quality was unrelated to peer relations, a regression analysis indicated that high levels of positive marital quality were associated with more positive peer relations for preschoolers low in effortful control, but not for those high in effortful control. In addition, a moderating effect of gender revealed that the relationship between marital quality and positive peer relations was positive for girls but negative for boys. However, positive emotionality did not moderate the relations among marital quality and peer relations. The present study provides important preliminary findings that highlight the need for further study of the significance of positive marital relations for child development.     

The Effects of Exploration on Preschoolers' Problem-Solving Ability

Specific contributions of exploration for divergent and convergent problem-solving ability in preschool children were investigated. Participants were identified as players or nonplayers based on naturalistic observations of free-play activities, and were assigned to either an exploration or nonexploration control condition prior to administration of two divergent and two convergent problem-solving tasks. No significant differences were found between the exploration and nonexploration groups on either divergent or convergent problem-solving tasks. Subjects in the exploration group, however, spent significantly less time in the related convergent problem-solving task than in the nonrelated convergent task. The player/nonplayer distinction was also nonsignificant.