Relationship between types of humour and stress response and well‐being among children in Japan

This study examined the relationship between three types of children's humour (aggressive, self‐defeating, and playful) and the children's stress response and well‐being in the Japanese context, where a collectivistic culture is prevalent. To do so, 500 study participants (250 elementary and 250 junior high school students) were recruited. The participants reported the types of humour, stress responses, and level of well‐being that they experienced. After correlation analysis, aggressive humour and playful humour showed a positive correlation with stress responses; in addition, aggressive humour showed a negative correlation with well‐being. Self‐defeating humour showed a negative correlation with stress responses and a positive correlation with well‐being. We also conducted a cluster analysis using the scores for the three types of humour, analysing four groups: “aggressive humourists” (respondents who demonstrated above‐average aggressive humour and scored average for all other humours), “nonhumourists” (below‐average humour in all areas), “self‐deprecating humourists” (above‐average self‐defeating humour, below‐average aggressive humour, and average playful humour), and “multiple humourists” (above‐average humour in all areas). Upon comparing the results of stress responses and well‐being scores among the four groups, we found that self‐deprecating humourists reported the highest level of well‐being. These results show that in collectivistic cultures, self‐defeating humour may be adaptive.     

Parent-carer awareness and understanding of dyspraxia: Implications for child development support practices

Dyspraxia manifests as difficulty in thinking, planning, and executing planned movements or tasks. Dyspraxia affects roughly 5–6% of school aged children. This study aimed to explore parent-carer’s awareness and understanding of dyspraxia and the resources they self-perceived to need to manage their children with dyspraxia. Informants were 15 parents from the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. They completed semi-structured interviews on their knowledge of and indicators of dyspraxia in their children and resources they presently utilised or could seek to use. Thematic analysis of the data suggested the parent-carers to be aware of motor rather than cognition oriented limitations. Additionally, parent-carers accessed or sought educator assistance from the school system. Health professionals and educators working with parents of children with dyspraxia can expect them to report reliably on behavioural characteristics of their children’s abilities important for treatment support interventions.     

Recognising the role of emotion in the classroom; an examination of how the psychoanalytic theory of containment influences learning capacity

This paper begins with personal reflections about my work in school which began over forty years ago, outlining how the different roles of teacher and therapeutic practitioner have contributed to my interest in the role of emotion for children’s capacity for learning in the classroom. I suggest that focusing too heavily on achievement risks losing sight of the experience of the individual child and argue that a psychoanalytic framework informs us of the significance of relational aspects of teaching and learning. My aim is to alert educationalists to the complexities of the classroom context, particularly the conscious and unconscious elements at work there. I have chosen to examine containment, as one aspect of the psychoanalytic, developmental framework, as a way of thinking about relational influences in the classroom and the importance of the relational context of learning. These case studies relate to my workplace, an Infant and Nursery school with a high British multi-ethnic population, where I am employed as a teacher/therapeutic practitioner. Two brief child studies are included to illustrate this examination. The first, Hamzah, concerns a young child entering formal learning without the expected relational skills and therefore unable to connect with staff and children in any meaningful way. The second, Isa, demonstrated well developed relational skills but at times found it difficult to manage his feelings when his needs took second place to the requirements of the curriculum.     

Creative,Culturally-Sensitive Counseling for Pediatric Oncology Patients Undergoing Treatment

The author presents culturally relevant strategies for creative counseling with children who have been diagnosed with cancer. In addition, therapeutic foundations and cultural considerations for using creative methods with pediatric oncology populations are discussed. Finally, the author outlines the use of specific creative interventions to assist this population including Beads of Courage, drum therapy, art, games, music, and poetry.     

婴幼儿自我调节的发展机制

婴幼儿自我调节的概念结构与发展机制至今无统一定论。本文作者在回顾关于婴幼儿自我调节的文献时发现该领域出现过两次不同研究取向的整合：第一次整合是包含气质-行为领域的整合以及纳入生理调节与情绪调节的整合, 第二次整合是行为-气质研究与认知领域研究的整合。本文总结两次研究取向的整合后提出了以生理-情绪-注意调节为基础、认知-气质-行为调节为核心的新的婴幼儿自我调节发展模型, 为该领域的研究方向提供了理论基础。     

歧视知觉、抑郁和农村留守儿童的学业成绩：纵向中介模型

以1147名双亲外出儿童和父亲外出儿童为被试,采用追踪研究设计,探讨了农村留守儿童歧视知觉和学业成绩之间的相互作用关系以及抑郁在其中的中介作用。结果发现:（1）农村留守儿童的学业成绩显著负向预测其随后的歧视知觉,但是歧视知觉不能显著预测其随后的学业成绩;（2）抑郁在留守儿童的学业成绩和歧视知觉之间起着纵向中介作用。这表明,学业成绩是降低留守儿童歧视知觉水平的重要资源,良好的学业成绩不仅可以直接降低农村留守儿童的歧视知觉,而且还能通过降低其抑郁水平来降低农村留守儿童的歧视知觉水平。     

羞怯儿童对模糊情绪面孔的知觉偏差

采用类别知觉情绪识别范式,考察高、低羞怯儿童对快乐-愤怒和快乐-悲伤模糊情绪面孔的知觉偏差和知觉敏感性。结果发现：（1）相对于低羞怯儿童,高羞怯儿童倾向于将快乐-愤怒模糊情绪面孔知觉为愤怒,将快乐-悲伤模糊情绪面孔知觉为悲伤;（2）两组儿童在快乐-愤怒、快乐-悲伤模糊情绪面孔类别界线处的斜率差异均不显著。研究表明高羞怯儿童具有敌意归因偏向和更高的悲伤共情反应,而对快乐-愤怒和快乐-悲伤表情的类别转变不敏感。     

Mind perception of God in Japanese children

There is a theoretical debate regarding whether children represent God with reference to a human. Most previous studies have assessed this issue focusing on knowledge/omniscience in western children. This study used a theoretical framework characterising mental capacities in terms of motivational/emotional (experience) and cognitive (agency) mental capacities and tested whether Japanese children discriminated between God, a human, a baby and an invisible agent according to these capacities. Three‐ to 6‐year‐old children were asked about the experience and agency of the agents. The results revealed that children discriminated God from a human in terms of mental capacities including experience and agency in 3‐year‐old children. On the other hand, 4‐ to 6‐year‐old children, but not 3‐year‐old children, discriminated a human from a baby and an invisible person. The results suggest that the Japanese children's representations of God differed from their representation of a human during preschool years.     

Simple discrimination training with differential responses to establish functional and equivalence classes with preschool children

The present study assessed whether simple discrimination training with differential responses would produce functional and equivalence classes with preschool children. In Experiment 1, we exposed 10 children to simple successive discrimination training in which they had to press different buttons (selection‐based responses). Response 1 (R1) was reinforced only in the presence of A1, B1, or C1, and Response 2 (R2) was reinforced only in the presence of A2, B2, or C2. We assessed the formation of functional classes by training new selection responses in the presence of one member of each class (A1‐R3, A2‐R4) and testing to see if these responses would occur in the presence of other members. Eight children responded consistently with functional class formation. Four of these eight children also responded consistently with the formation of equivalence classes. Experiment 2 investigated whether differential motor responses (i.e., gestures) would improve equivalence class yields. Three of six children showed both functional and equivalence class formation. In general, the results indicate that the simple discrimination procedure with differential responses yielded functional and equivalence class formation.     

Frequency and Intensity of Emotional Expressiveness and Preschool Children’s Peer Competence

Children’s emotional expressiveness with peers was examined as a predictor of social competence. Data were collected from 122 preschool children (57 boys, 65 girls; 86 European American, 9 African American, 17 Hispanic, and 10 other ethnicity) over a period of two?years. Observations of children’s peer interactions in Year 1 were coded for frequency and intensity of happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. Sociometric interviews and teacher ratings provided assessments of children’s peer competence in both Years 1 and 2. Frequent expression of happiness in Year 1 predicted higher social competence scores in Year 2, whereas frequent anger in Year 1 predicted lower peer competence Year 2. More intense anger and sadness in Year 1 predicted lower peer social competence scores in Year 2. Frequency and intensity of emotional expressiveness in Year 1 accounted for unique variance in peer competence in Year 2.