Linkages Between Children's Social and Academic Competence: A Longitudinal Analysis

The relation between social and academic competence was examined in a group of school-age children (N = 163) using structural equation modeling to determine the direction of influence between these two domains across time. A model posing that a reciprocal relation exists between the two domains was tested. The two nested models within the reciprocal model were also tested. To test these models, social acceptance as well as prosocial and aggressive behaviors were assessed by teachers and peers, and children's academic achievement was measured by language and math report-card grades and work skills. Results supported the reciprocal model, indicating that academic achievement directly influenced social competence from both first to second and second to third grade, and social competence was reciprocally related to academic achievement from second to third grade. Implications of these findings for the education process are discussed.     

Waiting for Paternity: Interpersonal and Contextual Implications of the Timing of Fatherhood

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of life-span contextual variation on father-child relationships. Sixty families in which both parents were either younger than 26 or older than 29 when they began childbearing, and whose child was between the ages of 3 and 5 at the time of the study participated. Videotaped observations of father-child play were collected. Questionnaires were also administered to fathers, assessing their marital satisfaction, work-home compatibility, and social network attributes. Older fathers established stronger connections to extra-familial contexts and displayed greater reliance on verbal mechanisms to engage children during play. Younger fathers maintained a more traditional style of fathering and engaged their children through physical stimulation. The implications of these findings for models of father-child relationships were explored.     

Presence and television.

Film and a number of emerging entertainment technologies offer media consumers an illusion of nonmediation known as presence. To investigate the possibility that television can evoke presence, 65 undergraduate students were shown brief examples of rapid point‐of‐view movement from commercially available videotapes on a television with either a small screen (12 inches [30.5 cm], measured diagonally) or a large screen (46 inches [116.8 cm]). Participants' responses were measured via a questionnaire and a computer‐based recording of arousal (electrodermal activity). Viewers of both televisions reported an enjoyable sense of physical movement, excitement, involvement, and a sense of participation. Furthermore, as predicted, participants who watched the large screen television thought the movement in the scenes was faster, experienced a greater sense of physical movement, enjoyed the movement to a greater extent, found the viewing experience more exciting, and were more physiologically aroused. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Inconsistent discipline of aggression in young boys

Two studies assessed the effects of interagent, inconsistent discipline on aggression in young boys. One agent responded to hitting behavior with verbal disapproval while another agent responded with verbal approval. In Experiment 1, the frequencies of hitting responses of first- and second-grade boys were examined under four schedules of adult reactions: (1) consistent disapproval; (2) consistent ignoring: (3) consistent approval; and (4) inconsistent discipline (approval from one agent and disapproval from the other). Aggressive responding was least frequent when met with consistent disapproval whereas the frequency of hitting responses in the inconsistent discipline condition was not different than that in the consistent approval and ignore conditions. In Experiment 2, the frequencies of hitting responses were examined under a schedule of consistent disapproval following a brief schedule of either: (1) inconsistent discipline; (2) consistent approval; or (3) consistent ignoring. Hitting behavior during consistent disapproval was greatest following a period of inconsistent discipline and least frequent following a history of consistent ignoring. These findings replicate the results of correlational field studies of the relation between inconsistent discipline and aggression in boys. In addition, these experimental studies demonstrate a causal link and the direction of effects between these variables.     

Forms, uses and functions of children's favourite objects

In this study, the notion of a favourite object is used as a heuristic concept for things that children are occupied with and absorbed by. According to earlier studies, favourite objects can be grouped into four categories: forerunners of transitional objects, primary and secondary transitional objects, and favourite toys. This initial classification was compared to results of cluster analyses of characteristics of favourite objects among 32 preschool and 30 primary school children, corroborating the initial classification and specifying the typology. The distribution of types of objects was different for the two groups of children, but was not dependent on age within groups or, for the preschool children, on mental development. These results indicate that changes of favourite objects with mental maturation are slow.
The softness of the material of primary and secondary transitional objects and the preference for objects that could be kept close to the body suggest that the comforting character of these favourite objects has its root in the child's self-soothing actions with the object.     

Experiences of time loss among videogame players: an empirical study.

Playing videogames is now a major leisure pursuit, yet research in the area is comparatively sparse. Previous correlational evidence suggests that subjective time loss occurs during playing videogames. This study examined experiences of time loss among a relatively large group of gamers (n = 280). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online survey. Results showed that time loss occurred irrespective of gender, age, or frequency of play, but was associated with particular structural characteristics of games such as their complexity, the presence of multi-levels, missions and/or high scores, multiplayer interactions, and plot. Results also demonstrated that time loss could have both positive and negative outcomes for players. Positive aspects of time loss included helping players to relax and temporarily escape from reality. Negative aspects included the sacrificing of other things in their lives, guilty feelings about wasted time, and social conflict. It is concluded that for many gamers, losing track of time is a positive experience and is one of the main reasons for playing videogames.     

Aggressive behaviour in adult slot machine gamblers: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

A growing number of studies have reported a link between gambling and aggressive behaviour. The aim of this study was to contextualize objective findings of a previous observational study regarding slot machine gambling and aggressive behaviour (Parke & Griffiths, Psychological Reports, 95, 109–114, 2004). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied using the Idiographic Case Study method. The data revealed three superordinate themes regarding slot machine gambling‐induced aggression (i.e. Competitive Advantage Reduction, Self‐esteem Reduction, and Cognitive Regret). Within these superordinate themes, subordinate themes emerged identifying how environmental factors and structural characteristics of slot machine gambling, along with the consequences of losing, produced aggressive behaviour. It is concluded that gambling‐induced aggression is a manifestation of the underlying conflict of engaging in dysfunctional behaviour while consciously acknowledging its detrimental effects. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social network factors and the transition to parenthood

A social support model for predicting the ease of transition into the motherhood role is presented. Four kinds of social network supports (relational, ideological, physical, and informational) and six social network agents (husband, friends, relatives, work associates, neighbors, and institutions) are considered. Ways in which each kind of support facilitates maternal and marital adaptation are discussed, along with implications of such support for influencing the nature of mother—child interactions. In addition, a case example (career women in transition) is presented to illustrate the predictive utility of the model. Policy and research implications of the present analysis follow.     

Parent and child expressed affect and children's social competence: modeling direct and indirect pathways

This study examined links between parents' and children's expressed affect during parent-child play and children's social functioning with peers. A total of 116 kindergarten-age children and their parents (114 mothers, 102 fathers) were observed during physical play interactions and were coded on global measures of expressed positive and negative affect. Kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers and peers provided measures of social competence. Latent variable path analysis with partial least squares was used to examine models that included "direct" and "indirect" pathways. Relations between parental positive affect and children's social competence were mediated by children's expressed positive affect. Parental negative affect was associated with negative social outcomes in children; however, these relations were not mediated by children's negative expressions. The strongest support for the hypothesized models was found in same-sex dyads.