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Social Development

Impact factor: 2.045 5-Year impact factor: 2.731 Print ISSN: 0961-205X Online ISSN: 1467-9507 Publisher: Wiley Blackwell (Blackwell Publishing)

Subject: Developmental Psychology

Most recent papers:

  • Longitudinal Relations of Preschoolers’ Dispositional and Situational Anger to Their Prosocial Behavior: The Moderating Role of Shyness.
    Sonya Xinyue Xiao, Tracy L. Spinrad, Nancy Eisenberg.
    Social Development. October 26, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Generally, research on children's anger and prosocial outcomes has been inconsistent, perhaps because researchers have overlooked nuances in children's anger, such as whether the emotion is situational versus dispositional or is in response to blocked goals versus violations of moral principles (e.g., unfairness). Additionally, mixed findings may be due to potential moderators such as shyness. In this study, we investigated the unique relations of children's (n = 192, 54.7% boys; Mage = 41.75 months) dispositional and situational anger in response to unfairness at 42 months old to their prosocial behavior toward strangers a year later. Further, we examined whether children's shyness moderated the relations. Longitudinal models controlling for stability of the constructs showed that dispositional anger was unrelated to prosocial behavior whereas situational anger positively predicted later prosocial behavior. Further, children's shyness moderated the relation between situational anger (but not dispositional anger) and prosocial behavior. For shy children, prosocial behavior toward strangers was low, regardless of anger; for those who were low or average in shyness, situational anger positively predicted prosocial behavior. The findings suggest that when children are not too shy to approach strangers, anger in response to unfairness may be an important precursor for later other‐oriented moral tendencies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. - Social Development, Volume 0, Issue ja, -Not available-.
    October 26, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12346   open full text
  • Issue Information.

    Social Development. October 26, 2018
    --- - - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 681-682, November 2018.
    October 26, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12262   open full text
  • Linguistic indirectness in parent‐preschooler reminiscing about emotion‐related events: Links with emotion regulation and psychosocial adjustment.
    Erika Hernandez, Katie Carmichael, Şükran Kiliç, Julie C. Dunsmore.
    Social Development. October 25, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The concept of linguistic indirectness is well established within the field of pragmatics, in which it has been observed that speakers express ideas directly and indirectly. We integrated analysis of linguistic directness and indirectness with examination of two established measures of parental emotion socialization through reminiscing: elaboration and emotion explanations. We examined unique associations of parents’ direct and indirect elaboration and emotion explanations with preschoolers’ emotion regulation and psychosocial adjustment. Participants were fifty‐five parent‐preschooler dyads (31 girls, 24 boys). Dyads reminisced about positive and negative events. Conversations were coded for parental elaboration, parental use of emotion explanations, and parental linguistic directness and indirectness. Children's emotion regulation was observed during standard tasks, and teachers reported on children's psychosocial adjustment. Multivariate regressions including direct elaboration and direct emotion explanations indicated that parents who engaged in more indirect elaboration when discussing positive events had children with worse emotion regulation. Parents who used indirect emotion explanations when discussing positive events had children with better psychosocial adjustment. Parents’ indirect speech during negative event discussions was not related to child outcomes. Results suggest differential functions for indirect elaboration and indirect emotion explanations in relation to children's social outcomes, and support the utility of examining linguistic indirectness. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. - Social Development, Volume 0, Issue ja, -Not available-.
    October 25, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12345   open full text
  • Maternal socialization of children’s positive affect regulation: Associations with children’s savoring, dampening, and depressive symptoms.
    Karena M. Moran, Amy E. Root, Boglarka K. Vizy, Tyia K. Wilson, Amy L. Gentzler.
    Social Development. October 16, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Maternal socialization of positive affect (PA) is linked to children's regulation of positive and negative emotions and the development of psychopathology. However, few studies have examined multiple types of emotion socialization as related to children's PA regulation and depressive symptoms. The current study examined how mothers’ socialization of children's PA regulation was related to children's PA regulation, and if children's PA regulation mediated the association between maternal socialization and children's depressive symptoms. Ninety‐six mother–child dyads (children aged 7–12) completed questionnaires and a five‐minute discussion about a positive event the child previously experienced; 76 dyads completed surveys again five months later. Partial correlations, controlling for child age and gender, indicated associations between maternal PA socialization and child PA regulation. Moderated mediation models suggested that maternal modeling of savoring predicted Time 2 child depressive symptoms via children's own savoring, which was moderated by Time 1 depressive symptoms. The moderated path indicated that only for children who reported higher depressive symptoms at Time 1, higher levels of savoring predicted lower depressive symptoms at Time 2. These results underscore the importance of examining multiple types of PA socialization and child PA regulation to predict children's depressive symptoms longitudinally. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 16, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12338   open full text
  • The effects of children’s proximity‐seeking to maternal attachment figures during mild stress exposure on mood and physiological responses: An experimental study.
    Adinda Dujardin, Rudi De Raedt, Jessica L. Borelli, Caroline Braet, Pieter Vos, Mike Rinck, Guy Bosmans.
    Social Development. October 16, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract In this study we investigated the effects of seeking versus avoiding proximity to mother on children’s emotional recovery from a stressor. Sixty children 9–12 years underwent a moodinduction procedure and were randomly assigned to seek proximity from or avoid an image of their mothers. The effect of this manipulation on children’s self‐reported negative emotions, skin conductance and heart rate variability (respiratory sinus arhythmia) was assessed. Higher levels of attachment anxiety were linked to more self‐reported sadness when children had to avoid mother, but no evidence for such an effect was found on a physiological level. For avoidant attachment, a similar pattern of results emerged, but both for self‐reported sadness and skin conductance. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 16, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12337   open full text
  • Parenting and Children's Prosocial and Problem Behaviors in Middle Childhood: The Role of Turkish Mothers’ Emotion Socialization Practices.
    Ayse Vildan Acar‐Bayraktar, Zeynep Cakmak, Dilek Saritas‐Atalar.
    Social Development. October 16, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Mechanisms by which the relations between different parenting behaviors and children's prosocial and problem behaviors occur is the focus of the current study. Supportive and nonsupportive emotion socialization practices of mothers were considered as potential mediators. Further, the moderator role of gender was explored. Participants were 228 mothers of 6 to 11‐year‐old children living in Ankara, Turkey. Scales assessing parenting behaviors (specifically, positive parenting and inconsistent discipline), maternal reactions to children's negative emotions, and prosocial and problem behaviors of children were completed by the mothers. Results revealed that supportive emotion socialization practices fully mediated the relation between positive parenting behaviors and both boys’ and girls’ prosocial behaviors. In contrast, nonsupportive emotion socialization practices partially mediated the relation between inconsistent parenting behaviors and problem behaviors, but only for girls. Findings indicated that girls were more vulnerable to their mothers’ inconsistent behaviors possibly because mother‐daughter dyads are more likely to use emotion‐related language and to discuss emotions than mother‐son dyads from a very early age. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. - Social Development, Volume 0, Issue ja, -Not available-.
    October 16, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12344   open full text
  • Emotion understanding and maternal sensitivity as protective factors against hostile attribution bias in anger‐prone children.
    Maria S. Wong, Xi Chen, Nancy L. McElwain.
    Social Development. October 15, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The present research examined children’s anger proneness, emotion understanding, and maternal sensitivity during toddlerhood as predictors of children’s hostile attribution bias (HAB) during the later preschool years. At 2.8 years (N = 128), maternal sensitivity (e.g., child‐centered behavior) was observed during mother–child play and snack, and parents reported on children’s anger proneness. At 3.3 years, emotion understanding (i.e., ability to identify emotional expressions accurately) was measured via an interactive puppet interview. At 4.8 and 5.4 years, children's HAB was assessed via child responses to hypothetical vignettes of ambiguous peer provocations. Path models revealed that maternal sensitivity predicted fewer hostile attributions. In addition, emotion understanding and maternal sensitivity emerged as buffers against the negative effect of anger proneness on HAB. Specifically, greater anger proneness was associated with more frequent hostile attributions, but only when children had lower emotion understanding or had mothers who were less sensitive. The findings highlight the interplay between intrapersonal and interpersonal factors in early childhood that contribute to a hostile attribution bias during the preschool period. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 15, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12336   open full text
  • The development of interindividual differences in sympathy: The role of child personality and adults’ responsiveness to distress.
    Jutta Kienbaum, Miriam Zorzi, Olga Kunina‐Habenicht.
    Social Development. October 12, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract In a three‐wave longitudinal study of 85 children (43 girls) at 5, 6 and 7 years of age, the role played by child personality (inhibition, aggressiveness) and adults’ responsiveness to distress in children's sympathy was examined. At all three times, sympathy was measured via standardized observations as well as children's self‐reports. Child inhibition and aggressiveness were assessed with reports by teachers at T1 and T2. Parents’ and teachers’ responsiveness to distress were inferred from interviews with the children at T1 and T2. Longitudinal analyses via latent regression using structural equation models showed that earlier sympathy explained most of the variance in later sympathy. Additionally, higher inhibition at T1 predicted less sympathy at T2. Higher sympathy at T1 predicted more adult responsiveness at T2. Higher aggressiveness at T2 predicted less sympathy at T3. Within time, at T1, sympathy was positively related to adults’ responsiveness. At T2, inhibition and sympathy were negatively related. The discussion focuses on the question of how child personality as well as parental and non‐parental socialization experiences work in concert to explain interindividual differences in sympathy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. - Social Development, Volume 0, Issue ja, -Not available-.
    October 12, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12343   open full text
  • Children's Reasoning about Unequal Gender‐Based Distributions.
    Clare Conry‐Murray.
    Social Development. October 11, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Children ages 7 (N = 56, Mage = 7.24, SD = .83), 9 (N = 55, Mage = 9.25, SD = .52), and 11 (N = 52, Mage = 11.60, SD = .79), and emerging adults (N = 50, Mage = 20.76, SD = .87) judged distributions of different items to boys and girls, when the items distributed varied by gender valence (related or unrelated to gender norms) and equivalency (equivalent or unequal). Distributions were judged to be acceptable most when the items were consistent with gender norms, especially for participants at ages 7 and 9, indicating that in middle childhood, children judge unequal treatment as fair when it is related to gender norms. Items were judged to be more likable when they were gendered, and likability judgments predicted more positive evaluations of the distributions, even when controlling for age. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. - Social Development, Volume 0, Issue ja, -Not available-.
    October 11, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12342   open full text
  • To be fair, generous, or selfish: The effect of relationship on Chinese children’s distributive allocation and procedural application.
    Weiwei Li, Robin Curtis, Chris Moore, Yun Wang, Xihua Zeng.
    Social Development. October 10, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Previous research has found that children’s sharing with others relies on fairness norms, but also varies according to their social relationships. The current study focuses on the conflict between fairness and relationship, exploring their impacts across two resource allocation contexts. We used a parallel work task to explore the effect of relationship with different recipients (friend, stranger, or disliked peer) on three allocation patterns (generous, fair, or selfish), when children directly allocated resources (distributive allocation), or applied different procedures to recipients (procedural application). Participants consisted of 123 Chinese children between the ages of 6 and 12. We found that in the distributive allocation context, in which participants directly decided the outcome, children primarily considered their relationship with recipients when dividing resources, not fairness. However, in the procedural application context, in which children could choose different allocation procedures for recipients, children primarily preferred fairness, regardless of social relationship. Moreover, when making distributive allocations, 6‐ to 8‐year‐olds were more selfish toward their disliked peers, whereas 9‐ to 12‐year‐olds tended to be more fair and generous toward their friends and strangers. These findings shed light on the link between social relationship and fairness within different allocation contexts among children of Chinese cultural background. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 10, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12341   open full text
  • Coping with peer victimization predicts peer outcomes across the transition to middle school.
    Stephen A. Erath, Alexander K. Kaeppler, Kelly M. Tu.
    Social Development. October 08, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The present study examined strategies for coping with peer victimization as predictors of peer victimization experiences and broader peer relationship outcomes across the transition to middle school, and tested for possible gender differences in these associations. Participants included 123 early adolescents (Mage = 12.03 years at T1; 50% males; 58.5% European Americans, 35% African Americans, 6.5% of other races/ethnicities) who reported on strategies for coping with peer victimization at T1 (summer before the transition to middle school) as well as experiences of peer victimization and loneliness at T1 and T2 (spring of the first year of middle school). Teachers reported on peer victimization and peer competence at T1 and T2. Conflict resolution predicted higher teacher‐reported peer competence. In contrast, revenge‐seeking predicted higher self‐reported peer victimization (among girls but not boys) and loneliness, and support‐seeking predicted higher teacher‐reported peer victimization and lower teacher‐reported peer competence. In addition, cognitive distancing predicted lower teacher‐reported peer victimization and lower self‐reported loneliness among boys but not girls. Results are discussed with reference to the specific context of peer victimization and developmental period of early adolescence. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 08, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12330   open full text
  • The relation between children's task‐specific competence and mothers' controlling practices.
    Jean‐Michel Robichaud, Julien S. Bureau, Francis Ranger, Geneviève A. Mageau.
    Social Development. October 05, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract In the guided learning domain of socialization, studies examining the antecedents of controlling parenting suggest that children's lack of competence in a task could trigger controlling practices in that task. However, a stringent test of this relation remains to be conducted. This study examined this relation using a sample of 101 children (Mage = 10.21 years) and their mothers, a standardized measure of children's competence in a task that was unfamiliar to the participants, and multi‐informant observational measures of maternal controlling practices during a mother–child interaction involving that task (rated by an independent coder and the children). Path analyses showed that children's initial lack of competence in a task was related to higher levels of coded maternal controlling practices during a subsequent mother–child interaction involving that task, which in turn were positively linked to children's perceptions of their mothers' practices as controlling. A bootstrap analysis also confirmed that the indirect link from children's competence to perceived maternal controlling practices through coded maternal controlling practices was significant. These effects were observed while controlling for mothers' self‐reported controlling parenting style and perceptions of their children's academic skills. Implications of these findings for the promotion of optimal parenting and future research directions are discussed. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 05, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12331   open full text
  • Ability emotional intelligence and children's behaviour in the playground.
    Pamela Qualter, Itziar Urquijo, Peter Henzi, Louise Barrett, Neil Humphrey.
    Social Development. October 02, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract We explored whether emotion understanding promotes positive social functioning in childhood using the ability emotional intelligence (AEI) framework, which defines emotion understanding more broadly than is common in developmental science. The prospective study included children ages 9–11 years who completed a measure of AEI at the start of the school year, and whose playground interactions were observed for one full year. Findings showed that, among girls, low AEI was associated with higher levels of direct aggressive behaviour in the playground; boys and girls high or low in AEI were more likely than their peers to watch others during playground social interactions. Further, higher AEI was associated with indirect aggression in school, suggesting higher AEI during childhood may be associated with the developmental transition from direct to indirect forms of aggression. The implications of the findings for school practice in relation to the teaching of emotion understanding are discussed. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    October 02, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12340   open full text
  • Parents' and children's power effectiveness during polyadic family conflict: Process and outcome.
    Sandra Della Porta, Nina Howe, Ryan J. Persram.
    Social Development. September 25, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Parent–child power effectiveness was investigated during naturally occurring polyadic family conflict with young children involving three or more family members. In 35/39 families, 210 conflict sequences were identified and coded for type of power, power effectiveness, and conflict outcome. Effective use of power overall and by each partner was assessed using two methods: microscopic (target's response to an actor's power move during the process of conflict) and macroscopic (power moves related to conflict outcome). Actor findings revealed that parents were more effective using certain types of power microscopically (i.e., simple, legitimate, reward) and macroscopically (i.e., simple, legitimate, questioning), whereas children were more effective using reward power macroscopically. Our findings support the unique qualities of the parent–child relationship and the complex context of polyadic family conflict. The study contributes to the literature on the socialization of young children in the family context. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 25, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12333   open full text
  • Couple interaction and child social competence: The role of parenting and attachment.
    Tricia K. Neppl, Haley Wedmore, Jennifer M. Senia, Shinyoung Jeon, Olivia N. Diggs.
    Social Development. September 25, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The current study examined the association between positive couple interaction and child social competence as mediated through positive parenting and parent–child attachment security. Prospective, longitudinal data came from 209 mothers, fathers, and their biological child. Information regarding observed positive couple interaction, observed positive parenting, and parent–child attachment security were assessed when the child was 2–4 years old, and child social competence was assessed at 5 years old. Mothers and fathers were analyzed separately in the model. Results indicated that for both mothers and fathers, positive couple interaction was indirectly associated with child social competence through positive parenting and parent–child attachment. These pathways remained statistically significant even after child social competence at age 2–4 was taken into account. Results suggest that couple interaction spills over into parenting which impacts parent–child attachment, which is associated with positive child developmental outcomes. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 25, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12339   open full text
  • A mixed‐method examination of ego‐resiliency, adjustment problems, and academic engagement in children of Latino migrant farmworkers.
    Zoe E. Taylor, Yumary Ruiz, Nayantara Nair.
    Social Development. September 18, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Children from Latino migrant farmworker (LMFW) families are one of the most educationally disenfranchised and marginalized populations of students in the United States. These children face similar disadvantages to other low‐income immigrant families, but often experience unique contextual stressors due to high mobility that places them at high risk for mental health problems, risk‐taking behaviors, and poor academic engagement. Despite these high vulnerabilities few researchers have focused their efforts on LMFW children specifically, or addressed resilience factors in particular. Ego‐resiliency is an enduring psychological construct reflecting how individuals overcome day‐to‐day challenges. We used a convergent mixed method cross‐sectional design to examine the effects of LMFW children's (N = 66, ages 6–18, Mage = 12.79) depressive and conduct problems on their academic efficacy/mastery, and whether ego‐resiliency counteracted these relations. Ego‐resiliency was negatively associated with depression and conduct problems, and positively related to academic efficacy/mastery. Conduct problems were negatively related to academic efficacy/mastery, but depression was not. Ego‐resiliency also moderated the relation of depression to academic efficacy/mastery. Qualitative results provided a deeper explanation of contributing factors to LMFW children's adjustment, how adjustment problems affected their academic success, and the coping mechanisms and resilience factors used by LMFW children to overcome difficult experiences. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 18, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12328   open full text
  • Children’s narrative story stem responses: Contributions of executive functioning and language proficiency to relationship representations.
    Jennifer Dealy, Hannah Mudrick, JoAnn Robinson.
    Social Development. September 11, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Story stem narrative tasks provide insight into young children's inner experiences. Little research has investigated how developmental capacities impact narrative content and process. This study evaluates the influence of executive functioning (EF) and language ability on children's narratives. Data were gathered from 210 low‐income children. EF and language ability were assessed at age 4 and EF was assessed at age 6 via direct examination, cognitive‐motor tasks, and examiner ratings. Children's responses to eight story stems were gathered at age 6; three latent narrative variables were constructed (Prosocial, Aggressive/Conflict, and Avoidance/Danger), and Narrative Coherence was rated. Results of longitudinal path analyses in structural equation modeling demonstrated age 4 EF significantly predicted all narrative outcomes. Language ability independently predicted Prosocial and Narrative Coherence, and had an influence on Aggression/Conflict when modeled with EF. Age 6 EF mediated the relationship between age 4 EF and narrative outcomes. Findings provide insight into developmental abilities that influence on children's narrative responses to challenging interpersonal scenarios. Future research should study parent–child relations, EF, and language abilities simultaneously. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 11, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12335   open full text
  • When I hurt others, and when I get hurt: Integrating victim and perpetrator experiences of harm into a sense of moral agency.
    Monisha Pasupathi, Cecilia Wainryb.
    Social Development. September 11, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract In a social world, occasionally we all will harm others, as well as be harmed. Previous research has focused largely on how perpetration and victimization events are distinct rather than on how they might be integrated with one another, jointly shaping moral agency. We report on an exploratory qualitative analysis of narratives about perpetration and victimization. Our sample included 30 participants divided evenly by gender and age (ages 11–12, 16–17, and 19–26). Our aims were: (a) to identify potential forms of integration in moral agency across perpetration and victimization; (b) to explore developmental paths in integration; and (c) to examine forms of integration that were not tied directly to the construction of moral agency. We found three frequent integration patterns: harm was similarly understandable in perpetrator and victim narratives; harm was similarly incomprehensible in perpetrator and victim narratives; and harm was understandable in perpetration narratives but incomprehensible in victim narratives. Other forms of integration suggestive of how diminished moral agency can be reclaimed via narrative also were identified. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 11, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12334   open full text
  • Parental sensitivity and friendship development: The mediating role of cooperation.
    Bethany L. Blair, Nicole B. Perry.
    Social Development. September 05, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Interactions with mothers and fathers form a critical foundation for youths’ later peer relationships. This study focused on the associations of maternal and paternal sensitivity in third grade with friendship outcomes in sixth grade. Because interactions with parents provide the earliest opportunities for children to learn prosocial behaviors such as cooperation, and cooperation is theoretically conceptualized as a foundation of friendship, cooperation may play a role in the link between parenting and children’s later social relationships. Using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development sample (N = 955; 51% female; 83% White), and a multimethod, multireporter longitudinal design, children’s cooperation was tested as a mediating mechanism that linked parental sensitivity to early adolescent friendship. Results indicated that most indirect paths from both mothers and fathers’ sensitivity to observed friendship interactions and perceived friendship quality, via cooperation, were significant. Findings provide a more concrete understanding of how parental sensitivity translates to better friendships. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 05, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12332   open full text
  • How do my parents react when I feel happy? Longitudinal associations with adolescent depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and positive affect regulation.
    Sabine Nelis, Margot Bastin, Filip Raes, Patricia Bijttebier.
    Social Development. September 04, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Parental emotion socialization plays a role in the development of adolescents’ emotion regulation and is associated with adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Most research has focused on parental socialization of negative affect. The scarce research on parental socialization of positive affect (PA) shows that parental downgrading responses to adolescents’ PA are associated with concurrent adolescent depression. The aims of the present study were to examine longitudinal associations of both maternal and paternal responses to adolescents’ PA with how adolescents regulate their PA (i.e., dampening and enhancing) and with adolescents’ general depressive symptoms and anhedonia. We also considered associations in the opposite direction from adolescent regulatory responses and symptoms to parental responses. In a two‐wave study (1‐year interval), 635 adolescents from Grade seven completed questionnaires. Cross‐sectionally, maternal and paternal responses to adolescents’ PA were associated with concurrent adolescents’ PA regulation as well as adolescents’ depressive and anhedonic symptoms. Longitudinally, low maternal and paternal enhancing responses to adolescents’ PA predicted relative increases in anhedonic symptoms and relative decreases in adolescent enhancing over time. Low maternal enhancing was also predictive of relative increases in depressive symptoms. The present study points to bidirectionality of relations as adolescents’ level of depressive symptoms predicted maternal and paternal responses. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    September 04, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12318   open full text
  • Parenting beliefs and practices in toddlerhood as precursors to self‐regulatory, psychosocial, and academic outcomes in early and middle childhood in ethnically diverse low‐income families.
    Jeffrey Liew, Gustavo Carlo, Cara Streit, Jean M. Ispa.
    Social Development. September 04, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Ethnoracially diverse families living in poverty are vulnerable to stress, discrimination, and adversities that can be ‘toxic’ to parenting and to a wide range of psychosocial and academic outcomes in youth. Thus, there is high need to identify malleable protective and promotive factors that may lead to improved developmental trajectories and outcomes for at‐risk youth and families. In this study of 2,233 low‐income families with ethnoracially diverse children (49.5% girls; 42.5% European Americans, 38.4% African Americans, and 19.1% U.S. Latino/as), we tested a model positing that child‐rearing beliefs at 24 months and parenting practices at 36 months are precursors to the development of children’s self‐regulation at pre‐kindergarten, with self‐regulation as a mediating mechanism between parenting in toddlerhood and psychosocial and academic functioning at fifth grade. Results confirm that child‐rearing beliefs are precursors to parenting practices, and both parenting practices and self‐regulation are mediating mechanisms by which child‐rearing beliefs are linked to youths’ psychosocial and academic outcomes. The results have implications for early parent education and parenting interventions, including public health approaches that have the potential for positive impacts on vulnerable children, youth, and families. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 891-909, November 2018.
    September 04, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12306   open full text
  • Maternal enhancing responses to adolescents’ positive affect: Associations with adolescents’ positive affect regulation and depression.
    Joseph W. Fredrick, Kathryn J. Mancini, Aaron M. Luebbe.
    Social Development. August 31, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Mounting evidence indicates that deficits in positive affect (PA) regulation are implicated in youth depression. Although parental responses to youths’ PA expressions have been linked to youth regulation of negative affect, no study has directly examined whether parental responses are linked with youth PA regulation strategies. The present study utilized a novel observational measure to test whether maternal active‐constructive responses to youths’ PA were uniquely associated with youth effective PA regulation strategies and, subsequently, depressive symptoms. Ninety‐two adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 (Mage = 14.22, Girls = 62%) and their primary female caregivers (Mage = 41.40, 88% biological mothers) completed a series of questionnaires and engaged in a Plan a Day Trip interaction task. Results revealed that observed maternal active‐constructive responses to adolescents’ PA were uniquely associated with adolescents’ effective PA regulation strategies which, in turn, were related to lower depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the importance of parental responses to PA when sharing positive experiences for specifically targeting adolescents’ responses that generate and sustain PA. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 31, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12326   open full text
  • Parental socialization of positive affect, adolescent positive affect regulation, and adolescent girls’ depression in India.
    Vaishali V. Raval, Aaron M. Luebbe, Anuradha Sathiyaseelan.
    Social Development. August 31, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract An emerging body of research shows that parental socialization of positive affect (PA) is implicated in youth functioning, although most evidence comes from Western countries. In this study, focusing on adolescent girls in India, we examined associations among reports of parents’ responses to adolescent PA, adolescent PA regulation, and adolescent depression. A total of 238 adolescent girls (13–18 years) and one of their parents (54% mothers) were recruited. Participants completed questionnaires at the beginning of the school year (time 1) and five months later (time 2). At the bivariate level, parents’ dampening and adolescent girls’ dampening responses were each associated concurrently with adolescent depression at time 1. However, there were no significant direct associations between time 1 parents’ dampening or enhancing responses and time 2 adolescent girls’ depression (after controlling for time 1 depression). Using half‐longitudinal models, a significant indirect effect was found from parental dampening of PA to increased adolescent depression via adolescent girls’ own increased dampening. No indirect effect was found from parental enhancing to adolescent depression via adolescent girls’ increased positive rumination. These findings are the first to demonstrate the relevance of PA socialization for girls in a non‐Western culture. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 31, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12325   open full text
  • The relations of children’s emotion knowledge to their observed social play and reticent/uninvolved behavior in preschool: Moderation by effortful control.
    Diana E. Gal‐Szabo, Tracy L. Spinrad, Nancy Eisenberg, Michael J. Sulik.
    Social Development. August 30, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Using data from a study of 140 preschool children (39% female), we examined the relations between direct assessments of emotion knowledge and naturalistic observations of behavior during free‐play periods, and tested parent‐ and teacher‐reported effortful control as a moderator of these relations. Basic emotion recognition was unrelated to social play and reticent behavior, whereas situational understanding of emotions (thought to be a relatively sophisticated aspect of emotion knowledge) was negatively related to reticent/uninvolved behavior and marginally positively related to social play. Effortful control significantly moderated these relations, such that situational emotion understanding was more strongly related to reticent/uninvolved behavior and social play at low levels of effortful control, and unrelated to outcomes at high levels of effortful control. These results highlight the unique role of situational understanding in predicting children’s social competence and suggest that emotion knowledge is particularly important for children who struggle with effortful regulation skills. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 30, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12321   open full text
  • The key role of positive parenting and children’s temperament in post‐institutionalized children’s socio‐emotional adjustment after adoption placement. A RCT study.
    Lavinia Barone, Yagmur Ozturk, Francesca Lionetti.
    Social Development. August 29, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Parenting interventions represent a means for experimentally inquiring socio‐emotional change of post‐institutionalized children after adoption. We used this approach in a three time point RCT study involving 83 post‐institutionalized children (Mage = 33.5 months, SD = 17.1) and their adoptive mothers (Mage = 42.6, SD = 3.9), attending either the Video‐Feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting in adoption and foster care or a dummy intervention. Controlling for gender and age at adoption, children showed a significant change in their socio‐emotional adjustment in the specific variables inquired—that is, emotional availability‐EA, and behavioral problems—after intervention attendance. Mediation and moderated mediation models showed that maternal EA was a main factor affecting children’s EA and externalizing behavioral problems, with a key moderating role played by children’s temperament; children with high scores on temperamental negative affect benefitted most from their mothers’ increase in EA. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 29, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12329   open full text
  • Using a “child's‐eye view” of social success to understand the importance of school readiness at the transition to formal schooling.
    Elian Fink, Wendy V. Browne, Claire Hughes, Jenny Gibson.
    Social Development. August 29, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Recent research into school readiness has highlighted the importance of not only children's cognitive and socio‐emotional skills, but also the degree to which they have family support in the home. The current study examines the association between social success upon school entry and teacher‐ratings of school readiness as assessed by the Brief Early Skills and Support Index (BESSI), controlling for language ability. Importantly, social success was assessed using a “child's‐eye view” with peer‐reported assessments of both social preference and reciprocated friendships. A total of 244 children (131 boys, Mage = 61 months, SD = 4.78 months) in their first year of formal schooling participated. Child school readiness was found to be important for social preference, with the association being more marked for boys versus girls. Family support was the only independent predictor of children's reciprocated friendships. The use of the BESSI, with its broad scope compared to other measures of school readiness, highlights the importance of focusing both on a child's cognitive and socio‐emotional skills at school entry and their family support when exploring the association of school readiness to children's social success at the transition to formal schooling. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 29, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12323   open full text
  • Mother–infant skin‐to‐skin contact and mother–child interaction 9 years later.
    Ann E. Bigelow, Michelle Power, Kim MacLean, Doris Gillis, Michelle Ward, Carolyn Taylor, Lindsay Berrigan, Xu Wang.
    Social Development. August 27, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The study investigated the longitudinal relation between mother–infant skin‐to‐skin contact (SSC) and mother–child interactions in middle childhood. Mothers and their 9‐year‐old children (born full term), who participated in a SSC study in the children’s infancy, engaged in conversations about remembered emotional events in the children’s lives that were assessed on the Autobiographical Emotional Events Dialogue. Mothers and children who had been in the SSC group showed more engagement and reciprocity in the dialogues than mothers and children who had been in the control group. Mothers’ sensitive guidance of the dialogues mediated the effect of SSC grouping on the children’s cooperation and involvement in the conversations. A higher proportion of dyads from the SSC group, than the control group, were classified as emotionally matched. Mother–infant SSC set the mother–infant relationship on a positive developmental trajectory that was related to mother–child emotional engagement in middle childhood. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 937-951, November 2018.
    August 27, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12307   open full text
  • ‘Was it meant to be mean?’ Young children's hostile attributional bias and intent attribution skills.
    Anouk Dijk, Bram Orobio Castro, Sander Thomaes, Astrid M. G. Poorthuis.
    Social Development. August 22, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Two studies investigated whether young children's hostile attributional bias (i.e., the tendency to assume that others have hostile intentions) may be explained by a lack of intent attribution skills (i.e., the ability to correctly infer others’ intentions). We also investigated whether these intent attribution skills depend on children's false‐belief understanding. Children who lack false‐belief understanding may base their attributions on the observable outcomes of others’ behavior, rather than on others’ intentions. These hypotheses were tested by assessing intent attributions made by children ages 3–7 years. We systematically varied intent and outcome information in vignettes (Study 1, N = 151) and staged interactions with puppets (Study 2, N = 85). Results replicated across studies. Children who understood false belief (vs. those who did not) based their attributions more on intent information. However, these intent attribution skills did not affect children's hostile attributional bias. Exploratory analyses showed that children with higher levels of hostile attributional bias, more than others, based their attributions on outcome information. Thus, the findings from this research do not support the assumption that young children with a hostile attributional bias lack intent attribution skills; instead, the findings suggest that these children have a heightened sensitivity for negative outcomes. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 683-698, November 2018.
    August 22, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12304   open full text
  • Between‐ and within‐person predictors of children’s information management following rule violations.
    Robert D. Laird, Megan M. Zeringue.
    Social Development. August 20, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The purpose of this study was to better understand both why some children disclose more about their misbehavior to their parents than do other children, as well as why a child discloses to parents about misbehavior in some situations but not in others. Analyses test parental warmth, children's beliefs regarding the legitimacy of parental authority and their own obligation to disclose misbehavior, and parent's responses to children's disclosure of disagreement with parents’ rules and children's misbehavior as predictors of both between‐person and within‐person variations in disclosing and revealing forms of information management. Parent‐child dyads (n = 218) were interviewed during the summers following the child's 5th (M age = 11.9 years) and 6th grade school years. Feeling obligated to disclose rule violations and believing that parents have legitimate authority to impose rules across more topics explained why some children reveal more and conceal less from parents than do other children. Children were more likely to conceal information about the specific topics for which they felt less obligated to disclose rule violations and following rule violations in areas in which their parents previously punished rule violations. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 20, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12324   open full text
  • Modesty can promote trust: Evidence from China.
    Fengling Ma, Gail D. Heyman, Li Xiao, Fen Xu, Brian J. Compton, Kang Lee.
    Social Development. August 20, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract When people let others know about their accomplishments, they can improve their social standing, but doing so may also have a cost, especially within social environments in which there is great emphasis on the value of modesty. One particular downside of self‐promotion, the risk of being seen as untrustworthy, was examined among children in China. Across three studies, children ranging in age from 7 to 11 years (total N = 251) judged the trustworthiness of protagonists who exhibited either modesty or immodesty. In Study 1, protagonists who told lies in the service of modesty were judged as more trustworthy than those who told lies to avoid getting into trouble. In Study 2, protagonists who demonstrated modesty were rated as trustworthy, but those who demonstrated immodesty were not. Study 3 showed that the positive implications of modesty for trust are specific to downplaying one’s own accomplishments and do not extend to downplaying the accomplishments of a peer. Taken together, the results suggest that for children in China, the level of modesty serves as a cue about which people can be trusted. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 20, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12327   open full text
  • Popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, or average: Do young children of different sociometric groups differ in their level of oral communicative competence?
    Femke van der Wilt, Chiel van der Veen, Claudia van Kruistum, Bert van Oers.
    Social Development. August 16, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Children’s sociometric status refers to their position within the peer group and plays a major role in their future social development. It is therefore important to investigate factors that are related to it. To date, little attention has been paid to the potential role of oral communicative competence. The present study investigated sociometric group differences in the level of oral communicative competence in a sample of N = 570 children in early childhood education. Sociometric status was measured using a nomination procedure. Based on peer nominations, children were categorized into five sociometric groups: (1) popular (generally well‐liked), (2) rejected (generally disliked), (3) neglected (low visibility and neither liked nor disliked), (4) controversial (high visibility and both liked and disliked), and (5) average (at or about the mean on both likability and visibility). Children’s level of oral communicative competence was assessed with the Nijmegen Test for Pragmatics. Results of multi‐level analyses revealed significant sociometric group differences: children who were rejected or neglected by their peers exhibited lower levels of oral communicative competence than average children. Based on these findings, teachers in early childhood education are encouraged to pay more explicit attention to the promotion of their pupils’ oral communicative competence. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 793-807, November 2018.
    August 16, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12316   open full text
  • Minding the children: A longitudinal study of mental state talk, theory of mind, and behavioural adjustment from the age of 3 to 10.
    Amanda Carr, Lance Slade, Nicola Yuill, Susan Sullivan, Ted Ruffman.
    Social Development. August 16, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Mothers’ use of mental state talk (MST) is linked to young children’s performance on false belief tests of theory of mind (ToM) and to their behaviour in social contexts. However, little is known about MST beyond the early years. This investigation is the first to examine continuity in both mother and child MST from preschool (age 3–4 years) to middle childhood (age 10) and examines the role of early maternal MST in children’s later ToM and use of MST. We examine the novel association between MST and children’s behavioural adjustment from pre‐school into late childhood. Participants were mother–child dyads from a 7‐year longitudinal study. Measures of MST, ToM, and language were administered at home when children were 3 and 4 years old and again at the age of 10. Also at 10, behavioural adjustment was measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Mother and child MST were highly stable from preschool to later childhood. Early maternal MST accounted for unique variance in later child MST and behavioural adjustment at 10 years of age; children whose mothers used more MST, specifically references to cognitions, when they were 3 or 4 experienced fewer behavioural difficulties (externalising behaviour) when they were 10 years old. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 826-840, November 2018.
    August 16, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12315   open full text
  • Participant roles in preschool bullying: The impact of emotion regulation, social preference, and quality of the teacher–child relationship.
    Marina Camodeca, Gabrielle Coppola.
    Social Development. August 14, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The present work investigated whether emotion regulation and social preference were associated with participant roles in bullying as a function of the quality of the relationship with teachers. Participants were 332 children (172 boys), in the age of 42–76 months (M = 58.74; SD = 7.84). Peer nominations were employed to assess social preference and participant roles (bullying, victimization, defending the victim, and outsider behavior). Teachers completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist, which yields the dimensions of emotion regulation and lability/negativity, and the Student–Teacher Relationships Scale, to evaluate conflict and closeness with the teacher. Multilevel models highlighted that emotional lability was positively associated with bullying and outsider behavior, emotion regulation was positively related to bullying and defending behavior, and social preference was negatively associated with bullying and victimization and positively with defending behavior. Interactions indicated that lability and low social preference were associated with bullying, and emotion regulation with outsider behavior, in children with a conflictual relationship with the teacher whereas social preference was related to defending behavior in children with a close relationship with the teacher. Results are discussed highlighting the importance of the quality of teacher–child relationship and the relevance of intervention programs aimed at promoting social wellbeing in preschool. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12320   open full text
  • Minute‐to‐minute trajectories of child unresponsiveness and parent sensitivity in parent–child interactions: The role of DRD4.
    Kit K. Elam, Lisabeth F. DiLalla.
    Social Development. August 14, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Elevated and persistent childhood unresponsiveness to others (not responding to cues from others during interactions) may be due to a combination of early environmental and biological influences. However, little is known about how sensitive parenting may influence minute‐to‐minute changes in child unresponsiveness. The present study examines trajectories of child unresponsiveness to parent and parent sensitivity across a 10‐minute parent–child interaction, and also examines variation by children's DRD4 genotype. Child unresponsiveness and parent sensitivity were assessed minute by minute for 246 twins during a puzzle task. Latent growth curve models demonstrated that increasing trajectories of child unresponsiveness and decreasing trajectories of parent sensitivity were associated across the 10‐minute interaction. When examined by genotype, this association was present only for children with the DRD4 7‐repeat allele (the putative ‘risk’ allele). In addition, initial levels of parent sensitivity predicted trajectories of child unresponsiveness only in children with a DRD4 7‐repeat allele. This examination of gene‐environment interaction illustrates the value of considering both genotype and the parenting environment in consideration of preschool children's development of unresponsive behavior. It also supports the importance of investigating the interplay between minute‐level parenting and child behavior in explaining child development. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 952-966, November 2018.
    August 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12308   open full text
  • It's written all over their faces: Preschoolers' emotion understanding.
    Jennifer Bailey Bisson.
    Social Development. August 10, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Emotion understanding is a multifaceted construct made up of several components. To identify how several common components of emotion understanding relate to one another, five emotion understanding tasks were compared within the same group of children. Fifty‐four preschool children (M = 3.81 years, SD = 0.40) were asked to display the typical facial expression of six emotions after hearing their corresponding emotion label. They were then read six vignettes and asked to: “use your face to show how [the protagonist] would feel,” provide an emotion label for the main character, and “choose a picture of a face that would look like [the main character].” Finally, they were asked to provide a label for emotions presented to them in photographs. For all tasks, six emotions were examined: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. With the exception of the two modeling tasks, results show correlations among the emotion understanding tasks. There was a significant interaction between task and emotion category for emotion understanding accuracy. However, there was some consistency in the pattern of discrete emotion categorization emergence across the tasks. Additionally, accuracy scores (representing emotion understanding) across tasks were not equivalent. Findings are discussed in the broader context of emotion understanding. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 10, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12322   open full text
  • Continuity, stability, and concordance of socioemotional functioning in mothers and their sibling children.
    Marc H. Bornstein, Diane L. Putnick, Joan T. D. Suwalsky.
    Social Development. August 08, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This within‐family longitudinal study accomplishes a novel multivariate assessment of socioemotional parenting cognitions and practices in mothers and their sibling children's socioemotional behaviors. Mothers participated with their 20‐month‐old firstborns and again, an average of 3 years later, with their 20‐month‐old secondborns (55 families, 165 participants). Continuity and stability in maternal cognitions and practices between the two times, and similarities, differences, and correspondences in siblings’ behaviors, are assessed and compared. Maternal socioemotional parenting cognitions were continuous in mean level and stable in individual differences across siblings; maternal socioemotional practices were continuous in mean level but unstable in individual differences. Firstborns were more sociable and emotionally available to mothers than secondborns; first‐ and secondborns’ socioemotional behaviors were largely unrelated. This study contributes to understanding socioemotional domains of parenting and child development, birth order effects, and the shared and non‐shared contexts of siblings’ environments within the family. - Social Development, EarlyView.
    August 08, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12319   open full text
  • The relation of cyber aggression to peer social competence in the classroom for children in China.
    Robert Washington, Robert Cohen, Kristoffer S. Berlin, Yeh Hsueh, Zongkui Zhou.
    Social Development. August 06, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Engaging in cyber aggression has been shown to be associated with negative psychosocial adjustment for both the victim and the aggressor for U.S. samples. Of particular interest to the present research was how engaging in cyber aggression related to classroom peer social competence for children in China. Participants were 494 students (Boys = 278; Girls = 216), Grades 3–6, attending an elementary school in Wuhan, China. A path analysis was performed using peer nominations for classroom aggression (overt and relational) and self‐reports of cyber aggression to predict: intra‐individual social competence (global self‐worth, loneliness, peer optimism); relationships (number of classroom mutual friends); and group level social competence (peer nominations for sociability behaviors and for popularity). Consistent with previous research on children, extent of engaging in cyber aggression was associated with negative intra‐individual and relationship classroom social competence measures. Unlike other studies, extent of cyber aggression was not associated with group level evaluations. Overt aggression was found to relate to classroom social competence in a similar fashion as reported for U.S. children; relational aggression showed a different pattern. The findings highlight the importance of examining the unique associations of types and forms of aggression to social competence, particularly in relation to culture. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 715-731, November 2018.
    August 06, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12314   open full text
  • Children's sleep and daytime functioning: Increasing heritability and environmental associations with sibling conflict.
    Reagan S. Breitenstein, Leah D. Doane, Sierra Clifford, Kathryn Lemery‐Chalfant.
    Social Development. July 30, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Children's sleep has both environmental and genetic influences, with stressful family environmental factors like household chaos and marital conflict associated with sleep duration and quality (El‐Sheikh, Buckhalt, Mize, & Acebo, 2006; Fiese, Winter, Sliwinski, & Anbar, 2007). However, it is less clear whether sibling conflict is related to sleep duration and children's sleep problems (e.g., nighttime wakings, parasomnias). In addition, few studies have tested whether associations between sleep and stressful family environmental factors are accounted for by an underlying set of genes or shared and unique environmental factors. Participants were 582 twins with sleep assessed longitudinally at 12, 30 months, and 5 years of age. Sibling conflict was assessed at 5 years. Greater sibling conflict was associated with shorter sleep duration and greater number of total sleep problems, over and above the influence of general household stress and other covariates. The heritability of sleep duration increased with age. Shared environmental factors accounted for the covariance between sibling conflict and sleep duration and total sleep problems. Findings hold promise for interventions, including educating parents about fostering positive sibling relationships and healthy sleep habits. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 967-983, November 2018.
    July 30, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12302   open full text
  • The roles of receptive and productive language in children’s socioemotional development.
    Elisabeth Rose, Sabine Weinert, Susanne Ebert.
    Social Development. July 30, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of 3‐year‐old children's language comprehension (operationalized by receptive vocabulary and grammar) and language production (operationalized by sentence production and ratings of productive language) on parent‐ and teacher‐rated cooperative behavior, physical aggression, and emotional self‐regulation over a 4‐year period. Analyses were based on a German longitudinal project including 547 typically developing children. Path models showed that receptive but not productive language significantly predicted the development of cooperative behavior when important child and family characteristics (e.g., SES, nonverbal cognitive abilities, and early cooperation at the age of 3) were controlled. In addition, we considered children's gender as a moderator and found compelling gender differences. In boys, only receptive language had an effect on all three aspects of socioemotional development. In girls, only productive language had an effect on the development of aggressive behavior and emotional self‐regulation. This result highlights the relevance of discussing the current results for boys and girls separately. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 777-792, November 2018.
    July 30, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12317   open full text
  • Intimate partner violence exposure predicts antisocial behavior via pro‐violence attitudes among males with elevated levels of cortisol.
    Melissa K. Peckins, Daniel S. Shaw, Rebecca Waller, Luke W. Hyde.
    Social Development. July 30, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The present study tested whether attitudes toward violence mediate the association between intimate partner violence exposure and antisocial behavior across adolescence, and whether cortisol level moderates these pathways in an ethnically diverse sample of 190 boys from low‐income, urban families. Results suggest that a pathway from intimate partner violence exposure at age 12 to antisocial behavior at age 17 is explained by pro‐violence attitudes at age 15. Boys with greater exposure to intimate partner violence endorsed stronger pro‐violence attitudes, which predicted increases in antisocial behavior. Further, the pro‐violence attitudes to antisocial behavior pathway were stronger among boys with heightened versus dampened cortisol levels. Results suggest that violent attitudes are important for understanding the cognitive underpinnings of antisocial behavior following intimate partner violence exposure, particularly in youth with high cortisol levels. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed with respect to targeting malleable child behavior linked to later antisocial behavior. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 761-776, November 2018.
    July 30, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12313   open full text
  • Issue Information.

    Social Development. July 26, 2018
    --- - - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page i-ii, August 2018.
    July 26, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12261   open full text
  • A cross‐regional study of the reactive and proactive aggression of youth in Spain, Uruguay, mainland China, and Hong Kong.
    Annis Lai Chu Fung, Xiang Li, Martín J. Ramírez, Bess Yin‐Hung Lam, Luis Millana, Natalia E. Fares‐Otero.
    Social Development. July 24, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This study is the first attempt to measure reactive and proactive aggression in 1,203 youths aged between 11 and 20 from Hong Kong, mainland China, Spain, and Uruguay using the reactive‐proactive aggression questionnaire (RPQ). The two‐factor RPQ construct was found to exhibit an excellent model fit for all subsamples, and the measurement and structural invariance across the four regions was also revealed. After controlling for age, the youth in Uruguay exhibited the highest levels of general, reactive, and proactive aggression, followed by Spain, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Reactive, proactive, and general aggression increased with age in the total sample, but the effects differed among regions. Boys were found to exhibit higher levels of general, reactive, and proactive aggression than girls only in Uruguayan sample. These findings confirmed the cross‐cultural generalizability of the two‐factor RPQ model, and suggested culture, age, and gender to be significant determinants of youth aggression. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 748-760, November 2018.
    July 24, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12305   open full text
  • Conversations about children's transgressions against siblings and friends: Maternal moral socialization strategies are sensitive to relationship context.
    Alyssa Scirocco, Holly E. Recchia, Cecilia Wainryb, Monisha Pasupathi.
    Social Development. July 24, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This study investigated the moral socialization strategies that mothers use in conversations about their children's experiences of harming their siblings as compared with their friends. The sample included 101 mothers and their 7‐, 11‐, or 16‐year‐old children; each dyad discussed events when the child (a) harmed a younger sibling and (b) harmed a friend (order counterbalanced). Analyses indicated that when children harmed their siblings, mothers were more likely to emphasize their children's wrongdoings, the effects of harm, insights about the self and de‐escalatory strategies. In contrast, when children harmed their friends, mothers mitigated their responsibility for harm, focused on consequences for the relationship, and discussed reparative strategies. These patterns were not typically moderated by age; that is, distinctions in socialization strategies across relationships were largely maintained across middle childhood and adolescence. Findings provide empirical support for recent theorizing that parents respond flexibly to children's varied experiences of harm, and suggest that moral socialization practices take into account the unique features of children's relationships with different types of age‐mates (e.g., the relatively uninhibited quality of sibling harm and the voluntary nature of children's friendships). - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 910-923, November 2018.
    July 24, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12303   open full text
  • Becoming prosocial peers: The roles of temperamental shyness and mothers’ and fathers’ elaborative emotion language.
    Jessica Stoltzfus Grady, Paul D. Hastings.
    Social Development. July 24, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Using a sample of 99 2‐ to 5‐year‐olds (51 girls, 48 boys), we evaluated whether parent‐reported temperamental shyness was associated with prosocial behaviors with same‐aged peers, and considered parenting (use of elaborative emotion language) and parent and child gender as possible moderators of relations between shyness and prosocial behaviors. Active and passive forms of prosocial behavior were evaluated when children were with familiar and unfamiliar peers. There were no direct associations between shyness and peer prosocial behaviors. Fathers’ emotion elaboration predicted more active prosocial behavior with familiar peers. There were significant moderating effects of parental emotion language, and parent and child gender, on relations between shyness and prosocial behavior. When mothers used more emotion elaboration, less shy children showed more active prosocial behavior toward unfamiliar peers and less passive prosocial behavior with familiar peers. Conversely, when fathers used more emotion elaboration, more shy boys engaged in more active prosocial behaviors with unfamiliar peers. These findings suggest that multiple social and contextual factors influence whether shy children become proactive helpers and sharers. Shy boys may particularly benefit from emotion elaboration from fathers whereas less shy children may be most prepared to benefit from mothers’ emotion language. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 858-875, November 2018.
    July 24, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12300   open full text
  • Maternal cognition talk in the mother–toddler dyad mediates the influence of early maternal emotional availability on preschoolers' belief reasoning.
    Susanne Kristen‐Antonow, Maria Licata‐Dandel, Mitho Müller, Beate Sodian.
    Social Development. June 08, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract The present longitudinal study of 83 mother–child dyads (40 girls) assessed how emotional availability (EA) and maternal mental state language (MSL) are related to children's first‐ and second‐order false belief understanding (FBU). EA was measured with the emotional availability scales at 7 and 50 months, maternal MSL within free play at 7 months, and within a book context at 24 months. First‐order FBU was assessed at 50 months and second‐order FBU at 70 months. The results emphasize the specific importance of high emotional connectedness between mother and infant for early and later mother–child conversations about inner states. They also stress the prominent role of maternal cognition MSL for children's first‐ and second‐order FBU. Thereby, maternal cognition MSL seems to mediate the influence of early EA on preschoolers' first‐order FBU. The results are discussed within different theoretical frameworks of FBU development. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 841-857, November 2018.
    June 08, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12301   open full text
  • Social development quartet: When is parental supportiveness a good thing? The dynamic value of parents' supportive emotion socialization across childhood.
    Vanessa L. Castro, Jackie A. Nelson.
    Social Development. May 29, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This introduction to the Social Development Quartet summarizes four articles that examine age‐related and contextual shifts in the utility of parents' emotion socialization responses for children's social‐emotional development. The first two articles present evidence for age‐related changes in the benefits of parents' supportive responses and consequences of parents' nonsupportive responses to children's negative emotions between early and middle childhood. The next two articles consider contextual variations in this developmental shift by examining teacher reports of children's competence and family patterns of response among mothers and fathers. Together, these studies question the unilateral assumption that parental support of children's negative emotions is always a good thing, and provide a more nuanced understanding of when and in what contexts parents' responses are adaptive for children. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 461-465, August 2018.
    May 29, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12299   open full text
  • Social goals moderate the associations between peer status and behavior in middle school.
    Lara Mayeux, Caroline Kraft.
    Social Development. May 17, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This study investigated the associations among popularity, agentic and communal social goals, and overt and relational aggression in adolescence, with a focus on social goals as moderators of the association between aggression and popularity. Three hundred eighteen sixth‐, seventh‐, and eighth‐grade students completed a sociometric assessment of overt and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and popularity, and the Interpersonal Goals Inventory for Children (IGI‐C; Ojanen, Grönroos, & Salmivalli, Developmental Psychology, 41(5), 699–710, 2005). Endorsing agentic goals moderated the association between popularity and both overt aggression and prosocial behavior. Adolescents who were both popular and who endorsed agentic goals were particularly high in overt aggression and prosocial behavior. Communal goals also moderated the popularity‐aggression link, but in different ways depending on the type of aggression being analyzed. We also found evidence that, among adolescents who endorse both types of goals, agentic goals may overshadow communal values. Some of these interactions were further qualified by gender. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 699-714, November 2018.
    May 17, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12298   open full text
  • Maternal encouragement of modest behavior, temperamental shyness, and anxious withdrawal linkages to Chinese American children's social adjustment: A moderated mediation analysis.
    Merve Balkaya, Charissa S. L. Cheah, Jing Yu, Craig H. Hart, Shuyan Sun.
    Social Development. May 17, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Past studies have revealed potential differences in the functional meaning and social evaluation of children's temperamental shyness between Chinese interdependence‐oriented and North American independence‐oriented cultural contexts. However, very little is known about shy Chinese American children's adjustment in Western school contexts and potential pathways underlying their adjustment. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the associations between Chinese American children's temperamental shyness and their social adjustment outcomes, including peer exclusion, prosocial behavior, and assertiveness/leadership skills. In addition, the mediating role of children's display of anxious‐withdrawn behavior and the moderating role of first‐generation Chinese immigrant mothers’ encouragement of modesty in their parenting practices as applied to associations between temperamental shyness and social adjustment outcomes were explored. Path analyses indicated that the impact of Chinese American children's temperamental shyness on their socioemotional adjustment was mediated by their display of anxious‐withdrawn behavior in school. However, when Chinese immigrant mothers encouraged their children to be more modest, children's temperamental shyness was less strongly related to negative social adjustment outcomes through diminished anxious‐withdrawn behavior. These results highlighted the importance of culturally emphasized parenting practices in fostering Chinese American children's adjustment in the United States. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 876-890, November 2018.
    May 17, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12295   open full text
  • Relations between parenting and adolescent's attachment in families differing in solidarity patterns.
    Katarzyna Lubiewska, Isabelle Albert, Gisela Trommsdorff, Wolfgang Friedlmeier.
    Social Development. May 02, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract To explain attachment development in adolescence in different contexts we applied the family solidarity model (e.g., Bengtson, 2001 generally used to analyze intergenerational adult children‐elderly parents relations. The model differentiates four family solidarity patterns which were assumed in our study to occur in adolescent–parent relations, though with a different distribution. We tested a susceptibility hypothesis assuming that effects of parenting will be stronger in family patterns with higher, compared with lower, affectual solidarity. A sample of Polish adolescents, their mothers (N = 570, both), and their fathers (N = 290) was surveyed as part of the Value‐of‐Children‐Study (Trommsdorff & Nauck, 2005). Four family patterns were identified: highly affectual amicable and harmonious; and less affectual and most frequently displayed detached and disharmonious patterns. The parenting susceptibility hypothesis was supported: For amicable and harmonious families, adolescents’ perception of maternal rejection was more strongly related with their attachment compared with the other family types. Partly in line with our hypothesis, effects of paternal rejection on adolescents’ attachment were strongest in amicable families, however, not significant in harmonious families. The study demonstrates that the relation between parenting on adolescents’ attachment representation is influenced by the pattern of family parents–child relations. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 984-1000, November 2018.
    May 02, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12297   open full text
  • Maternal responses to negative emotions and child externalizing behavior: Different relations for 5‐, 6‐, and 7‐year‐olds.
    Jackie A. Nelson, Brittany P. Boyer.
    Social Development. May 02, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Emotional and behavioral maturity expectations increase as children transition to primary school; thus, maternal responses that support and encourage children's expression of negative emotion may not benefit school‐age children as much as preschoolers. The current study explored a change in the utility of these maternal responses among 187 families (62 5‐year‐olds, 75 6‐year‐olds, and 50 7‐year‐olds). Mothers reported on their responses to children's negative emotions and children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors at two time points over 1 year. Multiple group analysis within cross‐lagged path models revealed a positive association between non‐supportive maternal responses and later child externalizing behaviors among 5‐year‐olds. However, non‐supportive responses were related to decreases in externalizing behaviors among the 7‐year‐olds. Discrepant findings between the 5‐ and 7‐year‐olds may represent a developmental shift in the function of mothers' emotion socialization practices. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 482-494, August 2018.
    May 02, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12296   open full text
  • The participant roles of bullying in different grades: Prevalence and social status profiles.
    J. Loes Pouwels, Tirza H. J. van Noorden, Tessa A. M. Lansu, Antonius H. N. Cillessen.
    Social Development. April 30, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This study examined grade differences in the social status profiles and prevalence of bullying participant roles. Participants were 598 primary school students (grades 4–6), 545 students in the lower‐grades of secondary school (grades 7–8), and 1491 students in the upper‐grades of secondary school (grades 9–11). Students' participant roles, popularity, and social preference were measured with peer nominations. Bullies, assistants, and reinforcers (i.e., bullies/followers) were as popular as defenders in primary school, but more popular than defenders in secondary school. These differences depended on the gender of the reference group. Bullies/followers were more popular than defenders among other‐gender peers in the lower‐grades of secondary school but not among same‐gender peers. In the upper‐grades of secondary school, bullies/followers were more popular than defenders among all peers. Grade differences in social preference were small. The grade differences in popularity profiles of the roles were in line with grade differences in prevalence rates. Bully/follower roles were more common in secondary school than primary school among girls and the defender role was less common in secondary school among boys. This suggests that bully/follower roles are more rewarded with social status in secondary school than in primary school. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 732-747, November 2018.
    April 30, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12294   open full text
  • Emotional competencies relate to co‐rumination: Implications for emotion socialization within adolescent friendships.
    Sarah K. Borowski, Janice Zeman.
    Social Development. April 15, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Despite the acknowledged importance of friendships in emotional development during adolescence, little research has empirically examined emotion socialization processes within friendships. Co‐rumination is one such process that may involve many emotion‐related skills due to its negative emotional focus and links to emotional distress. The current study examines whether adolescent friends’ emotional competencies (i.e., emotional awareness, emotion regulation) relate to co‐rumination. Adolescents (N = 192; 53% girls; Mage = 12.67; 76% European American, 17.7% African American) participated with a reciprocated same‐sex best friend. Adolescents reported on their own and their friends’ emotional competencies and participated in observed video‐taped problem discussion task that was coded for co‐rumination. Results indicated that indices of poor emotional competence related to greater co‐rumination for girls. For boys, stronger emotional competence related to greater co‐rumination. There were more significant links to co‐rumination from adolescents’ perceptions of their friends’ emotion regulation than self‐reports of their own emotion regulation. Results are discussed with a focus on implications for emotion socialization within the best friend context during early adolescence. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 808-825, November 2018.
    April 15, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12293   open full text
  • Young children tattle to enforce moral norms.
    Meltem Yucel, Amrisha Vaish.
    Social Development. April 05, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract By 3 years of age, children tattle about rule violations they observe, even as unaffected bystanders. It is argued that tattling is one way in which children enforce norms and that in the long term, it helps sustain co‐operation (e.g., Vaish, Missana, & Tomasello, 2011). However, an alternative explanation could be that children are worried that the victim might blame them and so feel the need to inform the victim about who caused the harm. The present study aimed to tease these possibilities apart. Children observed a puppet either causing harm to another puppet (e.g., destroying their artwork) or no harm (e.g., destroying a different object). Importantly, the situation was constructed such that children knew they could not be blamed for the transgressions. Nonetheless, 3‐year‐old children tattled on the transgressor more when the transgressor had caused harm than no harm. Thus, young children's tattling about third‐party moral transgressions seems to be aimed at enforcing norms. An additional, exploratory goal of this study was to examine the relation between children's temperament and norm enforcement. Temperamental shyness negatively correlated with children's protesting and tattling behavior, though more research is needed to better understand the role of temperament in early norm enforcement. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 924-936, November 2018.
    April 05, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12290   open full text
  • The BDNF gene val66met polymorphism and behavioral inhibition in early childhood.
    Matthew R. J. Vandermeer, Haroon I. Sheikh, Shiva S. Singh, Daniel N. Klein, Thomas M. Olino, Margaret W. Dyson, Sara J. Bufferd, Elizabeth P. Hayden.
    Social Development. March 26, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Stably elevated behavioral inhibition (BI) is an established risk factor for internalizing disorders. This stability may be related to genetic factors, including a valine‐to‐methionine substitution on codon 66 (val66met) of the brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene. Past work on the BDNF met variant has inconsistently linked it to vulnerability to internalizing problems; some of this inconsistency may stem from the failure to consider gene‐trait interactions in shaping the course of early BI. Toward elucidating early pathways to anxiety vulnerability, we examined gene‐by‐trait interactions in predicting the course of BI over time in 476 children, assessed for BI using standardized laboratory methods. We found that children with the met allele showed lower stability of BI between ages 3 and 6 than those without this allele. While the mechanisms that underlie this effect are unclear, our findings are consistent with the notion that the met variant, in the context of early BI, influences the stability of this trait in early development. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 543-554, August 2018.
    March 26, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12292   open full text
  • Family meta‐emotion and the onset of major depressive disorder in adolescence: A prospective longitudinal study.
    Orli S. Schwartz, Vanessa J. Rowell, Sarah Whittle, Michelle L. Byrne, Julian G. Simmons, Lisa Sheeber, Vicki McKenzie, Nicholas B. Allen.
    Social Development. March 26, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Meta‐emotion philosophy refers to an organized set of thoughts, reactions, and feelings about one's emotions and the emotions of others (Gottman, Katz, & Hooven, 1997). This study investigated the prospective relationship between family meta‐emotion processes and adolescent‐onset major depressive disorder (MDD). Adolescents (N = 198, mean age 12.5 years) and one of their parents each completed the Meta‐Emotion Interview (Katz & Gottman, 1986), and adolescents were followed‐up at ages 15, 16.5, and 19 years to assess for MDD onset. In the Meta‐Emotion Interviews, parents and adolescents were asked about both their own, and the others', anger and sadness. Results showed that parent‐report of their own meta‐emotion philosophy of sadness prospectively predicted MDD onset in adolescence, as did adolescent‐report of low parental emotion coaching in relation to sadness, and adolescent self‐perceived emotional competence in relation to sadness. Adolescents' perceptions of family emotional environments characterized by high levels of parental anger expression and family conflict also prospectively predicted MDD onset. These findings highlight the continued importance of family emotional processes in adolescence, and provide insight into how parents' and adolescents' perceptions of emotional processes within the family, particularly in relation to sadness, may be prospectively associated with risk for adolescent onset MDD. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 526-542, August 2018.
    March 26, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12291   open full text
  • Characteristics of rumors and rumor victims in early adolescence: Rumor content and social impact.
    Sarah T. Malamut, Molly Dawes, Hongling Xie.
    Social Development. March 23, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Despite the prominence of rumor spreading in early adolescence, little research has examined the features of rumors during this developmental period. To address this gap in the literature, we analyzed rumor reports in a longitudinal study from fifth to seventh grades to identify subtypes of rumor content and to investigate gender and grade differences, the social impact of rumors, and victims’ social status across rumor content. In seventh grade, a higher proportion of girls were victims of sexual activity rumors whereas a higher proportion of boys were victims of sexual orientation rumors. There were significantly more sexual activity rumors in seventh grade than fifth and sixth grade. In sixth and seventh grade, sexual activity rumors had higher social impact compared to all other rumors. Higher social status was found for victims of romantic rumors in fifth grade, for victims of personal/physical characteristics rumors in sixth grade, and for victims of sexual activity rumors in seventh grade. These findings provide critical insight into rumors across early adolescence and add to growing evidence that victims of aggressive behavior may have high social status. The importance of incorporating multiple methods for assessing victimization and implications for awareness of rumor spreading are discussed. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 601-618, August 2018.
    March 23, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12289   open full text
  • A reciprocal, moderated mediation model of grit, engagement, and literacy achievement among dual language learners.
    Colleen R. O'Neal, Antoinette Goldthrite, Lynsey Weston Riley, Ranga K. Atapattu.
    Social Development. March 06, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract This short‐term longitudinal study asked (a) how and for whom socioemotional factors like grit and emotional engagement predict later literacy achievement; and (b) if there are reciprocal effects between literacy and these socioemotional factors. An autoregressive cross‐lagged (ARCR) design included 3 time points over 4 months with an ethnic minority, dual language learner sample (n = 142; 54% female; 75% Latina/o; M = 9.47 years old). The procedure at each time point included teacher‐reported student emotional engagement and adapted grit questionnaires in addition to a student literacy achievement performance task. A reciprocal model (i.e., socioemotional factors and literacy affect each other) was compared to direct (i.e., socioemotional factors impact literacy) and reverse (i.e., literacy impacts socioemotional factors) models. Results suggested that the reciprocal model fit better than the direct and reverse models. Within the reciprocal ARCR model, grit had a significant impact on later literacy achievement via the mediator of engagement and moderated by age. Findings hold implications for education discourse on reciprocal and indirect effects of grit on achievement among older elementary‐aged dual language learners. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 665-680, August 2018.
    March 06, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12288   open full text
  • Maternal disclosure and adolescent prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of adolescent disclosure and coping.
    Hali Kil, Joan E. Grusec, Maria Paula Chaparro.
    Social Development. February 14, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract In this study, we considered the impact of mothers' willingness to disclose about distressing events and rule transgressions on their adolescent children's willingness to disclose about similar events, as well as adolescents' ability to cope and to show concern for others. Mothers and their 12‐ to 14‐year‐old children (N = 125) were asked to say how likely they would be to talk about moderately distressing concerns as well as minor rule transgressions. Adolescent positive coping skills were also assessed. Teachers (N = 92) rated the adolescents' prosocial behaviors in the classroom. Adolescents' disclosure about distressing events and positive coping mediated the relation between maternal disclosure about distressing events and adolescent prosocial behavior. Further, maternal disclosure alone about both distressing events and rule transgressions was related to adolescent prosocial behavior through positive coping. These results suggest that mothers' willingness to talk about their own negative experiences can help children cope better and, ultimately, to show greater empathy and concern for others. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 652-664, August 2018.
    February 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12287   open full text
  • Longitudinal relations between behavioral inhibition and social information processing: Moderating role of maternal supportive reactions to children's emotions.
    Sara S. Nozadi, Lauren K. White, Kathryn A. Degnan, Nathan A. Fox.
    Social Development. February 14, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Utilizing multiple measures of interpretive biases, the current study examined the roles of toddlers’ behavioral inhibition (BI) and maternal supportive reactions to children's negative emotions in relation to children's interpretive biases across middle to late childhood. Toddlers’ BI was measured during several laboratory tasks (n = 248) at 2 and 3 years of age. Mothers reported on their reactions to children's negative emotional expressions when children were 7 years old (n = 203), and children's interpretations of social cues were assessed at 7 and 10 years of age (ns = 179 and 161, respectively). Toddlers with high levels of BI expressed less positivity toward social engagement with unfamiliar peers during discussion of ambiguous social situations. Further, children with high BI were less likely to attribute the cause of negative social situations to external factors, particularly when mothers were less accepting of children's negative emotional displays. Findings are discussed in terms of cognition related to the interpretation of ambiguous and threat‐related social situations among temperamentally at‐risk children. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 571-585, August 2018.
    February 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12286   open full text
  • Approach‐related emotion, toddlers' persistence, and negative reactions to failure.
    Margaret Wolan Sullivan, Dennis P. Carmody.
    Social Development. February 05, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Approach behavior, defined as differences in behavior to an incentive event and anger at its removal, was assessed during contingency learning in 87 5‐month olds was related to maternal ratings of mastery behaviors at 2 years. Mothers reported on infants' concurrent temperament, as well as the occurrence of anger and tantrums, and their own anger at 12 months. Approach behavior was expected to predict persistence with objects and persistent motor behavior, but not negative reactions to failure. Negative reactions to failure were expected to be mediated by a distress‐prone temperament. The moderating effect of maternal anger on these relations was also explored using conditional process regression models. Controlling for soothability, early approach behavior predicted toddlers' persistence, especially gross motor persistence, moderated by maternal anger. With more maternal anger, approach behavior and toddler's persistence were more strongly related. Distress to limits, infant anger at 12 months, and maternal anger were significantly correlated, but only infant anger was related to negative reactions to failure. Prior to 6 months, goal‐directed behavior is related to later behavioral persistence, but maternal responses to child anger are an important contributor to this relation and by 12 months, infant anger directly predicts mastery frustration at 2 years. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 586-600, August 2018.
    February 05, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12285   open full text
  • Is preventing peer victimization sufficient? The role of prosocial peer group treatment in children's socioemotional development.
    Wendy Troop‐Gordon, Lexie Unhjem.
    Social Development. February 02, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Despite extensive research on the harmful effects of peer victimization, little is known about whether prosocial treatment from peers contributes to healthy socioemotional development. To address this issue, 366 third and fourth graders (170 boys; Mage = 9.34) were followed over three time points. Children completed measures of prosocial peer treatment, peer victimization, depressive affect, and friendship quality. Teacher‐reports of depressive affect and peer‐reports of aggression, victimization, and friendships were also obtained. Controlling for peer victimization, number of friends, and friendship quality, prosocial peer treatment negatively predicted depressive affect. For boys, prosocial peer treatment mediated the association between victimization and teacher‐reported depressive affect. These findings underscore the importance of prosocial peer group treatment and the need to broaden the goals of anti‐bullying interventions to include the promotion of positive peer interactions. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 619-635, August 2018.
    February 02, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12283   open full text
  • You've got a friend(ly school): Can school prosocial norms and friends similarly protect victims from distress?
    Hannah L. Schacter, Jaana Juvonen.
    Social Development. January 22, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract Testing the potential protective effects of school‐level prosocial norms and having friends on peer victimization‐related distress, this study examined whether one protective factor is particularly important in the absence of the other. An ethnically diverse sample (N = 5,991) from 26 middle schools reported on peer prosocial behavior, social anxiety, loneliness, and perceived school safety; peer nominations assessed victimization and friends. Multilevel analyses revealed that sixth grade friendless victims felt significantly less anxious, lonely, and unsafe a year later in schools characterized by stronger peer prosocial norms (e.g., helping others). Additionally, victims in less prosocial schools experienced less social anxiety if they had at least one friend. The findings suggest that attending a school characterized by prosocial peer norms can compensate for high social risk (victimized and friendless) following the transition to middle school, and having friends is important for bullied youth in less prosocial school contexts. These results highlight the importance of simultaneously studying relational and school‐level protective factors; implications for anti‐bullying interventions are discussed. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 636-651, August 2018.
    January 22, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12281   open full text
  • Unsociability in Chinese adolescents: Cross‐informant agreement and relations with social and school adjustment.
    Linlin Zhang, Natalie D. Eggum‐Wilkens.
    Social Development. January 19, 2018
    --- - |2 Abstract We examined cross‐informant agreement of unsociability and associations of unsociability with social and school adjustment. Participants were 229 (48% girls; Mage = 14.25, SD = .78 years) seventh‐ and eighth‐graders in Liaoning, China. Unsociability and shyness were assessed with self‐reports and peer nominations. Social and school adjustment data were obtained from multiple sources (self‐, peer‐, teacher‐reports). Peer‐reported unsociability was not significantly correlated with self‐reported unsociability, but was positively correlated with self‐reported shyness. Path models indicated that controlling for shyness and demographic covariates, peer‐, but not self‐reported, unsociability was associated with low peer acceptance, high peer rejection and exclusion, low school liking, and low academic performance and achievement. The findings suggest that unsociable Chinese adolescents may have multifaceted adjustment difficulties with peers and at school, but only when perceived as unsociable by peers. Methodological and theoretical implications of the results and the lack of correspondence between self‐ and peer‐reports were discussed. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 555-570, August 2018.
    January 19, 2018   doi: 10.1111/sode.12284   open full text
  • A daily diary investigation of the influence of early family adversity on social functioning during the transition to adulthood.
    Elizabeth B. Raposa, Constance Hammen.
    Social Development. October 20, 2017
    Early life stressors are associated with maladaptive social functioning in childhood and adolescence, but it is unclear whether and how the negative interpersonal effects of stress persist into adulthood. Daily diary surveys were used to examine young adults' social behavior and mood reactivity to social stressors as a function of experiences of early family adversity. Stressful early family environments predicted more daily reassurance seeking, but not aggression, withdrawal, or positive social behavior. Early family adversity also moderated the within‐person effects of social stressors on next‐day mood, such that individuals with high levels of adversity had elevated next‐day negative affect in response to higher than average social stress. Findings highlight the enduring impact of early adversity on social development, with implications for developing targeted policies and interventions.
    October 20, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12269   open full text
  • Differences between resource control types revisited: A short term longitudinal study.
    Albert Reijntjes, Marjolijn Vermande, Tjeert Olthof, Frits A. Goossens, Gerko Vink, Liesbeth Aleva, Matty van der Meulen.
    Social Development. August 09, 2017
    Hawley's influential resource control theory (RCT) posits that both coercive and prosocial strategies may yield social dominance, as indexed by resource control. Based on differences in youths’ relative use of these strategies, RCT a priori defines five distinct subtypes. Several studies by Hawley and colleagues have revealed substantial differences between subtypes in terms of obtained resource control and various social characteristics (e.g., agreeableness). The present longitudinal study (N = 394; Mage = 10.3; SD = 0.5) expands on previous work. Firstly, because several items used to assess strategies in RCT appear to confound strategy use with the resulting benefits (resource control), we disentangled between strategy use as such and obtained resource control. Secondly whereas previous work has been exclusively cross‐sectional, the present study was longitudinal. ANOVAs comparing subgroups provided support for some core tenets of RCT, but not for others. For instance, bistrategic children scored high on both resource control and perceived popularity. However, bistrategics engaged in elevated bullying, and whereas Hawley asserts that they are proficient in balancing ‘getting ahead’ with ‘getting along’, their behavior appeared to evoke clear negative reactions in the peer group at large. Findings also showed that non‐controllers did not experience more negative outcomes than their peers across all domains.
    August 09, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12257   open full text
  • Authenticity in friendships and well‐being in adolescence.
    Kätlin Peets, Ernest V. E. Hodges.
    Social Development. July 26, 2017
    Only a handful of studies have focused on understanding how authenticity in close relationships may be related to individuals’ well‐being. In this study we examined whether authenticity in a friendship was related to greater adjustment during adolescence. Participants were 318 sixth‐ and ninth‐grade students (155 boys; Mage = 13.46, SDage = 1.51). Our results show that adolescents who feel more authentic have more positive self‐views, are less lonely at school, and more satisfied with their relationship. Importantly, authenticity–adjustment associations remained significant after controlling for positive friendship quality and conflict. These findings suggest that authenticity should be more often incorporated into the study of different friendship processes.
    July 26, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12254   open full text
  • Effects of consistency between self and in‐group on children's views of self, groups, and abilities.
    Meagan M. Patterson, Rebecca S. Bigler.
    Social Development. July 26, 2017
    Children's developing views of self and in‐groups inevitably conflict at points during childhood (e.g., a girl who thinks of herself as strong encounters the gender stereotype that girls are weak). How are self and group views reconciled in such cases? To test hypotheses based on Greenwald et al.'s model of self, group, and attribute relations, children (N = 107; ages 7–12; M = 9 years, 6 months) were assigned to novel social groups, denoted by red and blue t‐shirts, in their classrooms. Across 3 weeks, children completed three novel tasks and received false feedback on personal and group task performance, producing a between‐subjects experimental design in which children received either consistent or inconsistent self and group feedback. Immediately after receiving feedback, children answered questions about the particular task. Finally, upon completion of all three manipulations, children completed measures of views of the self and novel groups. As predicted, children's views of the tasks, self, and groups were influenced by feedback. Unexpectedly, children viewed themselves as more similar to the in‐group than out‐group irrespective of feedback consistency. Furthermore, children developed in‐group biased attitudes, but these biases were largely unrelated to feedback.
    July 26, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12255   open full text
  • Development of preferences for differently aged faces of different races.
    Michelle Heron‐Delaney, Paul C. Quinn, Fabrice Damon, Kang Lee, Olivier Pascalis.
    Social Development. July 03, 2017
    Children's experiences with differently aged faces changes in the course of development. During infancy, most faces encountered are adult, however as children mature, exposure to child faces becomes more extensive. Does this change in experience influence preference for differently aged faces? The preferences of children for adult vs. child, and adult vs. infant faces were investigated. Caucasian 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds and adults were presented with adult/child and adult/infant face pairs which were either Caucasian or Asian (race consistent within pairs). Younger children (3–4 years) preferred adults over children whereas older children (5–6 years) preferred children over adults. This preference was only detected for Caucasian faces. These data support a ‘here and now’ model of the development of face age processing from infancy to childhood. In particular, the findings suggest that growing experience with peers influences age preferences and that race impacts on these preferences. In contrast, adults preferred infants and children over adults when the faces were Caucasian or Asian, suggesting an increasing influence of a baby schema, and a decreasing influence of race. The different preferences of younger children, older children, and adults also suggest discontinuity and the possibility of different mechanisms at work during different developmental periods.
    July 03, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12253   open full text
  • Executive function and theory of mind as predictors of socially withdrawn behavior in institutionalized children.
    Bilge Selcuk, H. Melis Yavuz, Evren Etel, Mehmet Harma, Ted Ruffman.
    Social Development. June 30, 2017
    False‐belief understanding and executive functions are two main sociocognitive abilities reliably linked to child social competence. Although institution‐reared children are especially at risk for behavioral problems and cognitive delays, the role that executive function and false‐belief understanding might play in the social withdrawal of institutionalized children has not been examined. The current study used two‐wave data to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal relations of social withdrawal with executive function and false‐belief understanding in institutionalized children; it also allowed investigation of the directionality between executive function and false‐belief understanding. Data were collected from 66 Turkish children (T1 M = 57.83 months, SD = 9.20; T2 M = 69.58 months, SD = 8.45) residing in institutions, at two time points, approximately 1 year apart. We measured false‐belief understanding and executive function via individual assessments, and social withdrawal via care provider reports at both time points. Results showed that both executive function and false‐belief understanding increased between T1 and T2, while social withdrawal did not show a significant change. Path analysis revealed that when T1 age and language were controlled, T1 executive function predicted T2 executive function, and in turn, T2 executive function predicted lessened social withdrawal at T2. In addition, T1 executive function predicted T2 false‐belief understanding. T1 false‐belief understanding was not related to T2 false‐belief understanding, executive function, or social withdrawal. Findings suggested that executive function is an important predictor of social withdrawal in high‐risk populations.
    June 30, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12252   open full text
  • Changing tides: Mothers’ supportive emotion socialization relates negatively to third‐grade children's social adjustment in school.
    Vanessa L. Castro, Amy G. Halberstadt, Patricia T. Garrett‐Peters.
    Social Development. June 16, 2017
    --- - |2 Abstract Parents’ supportive reactions to children's negative emotions are thought to promote children's social adjustment. Research heretofore has implicitly assumed that such reactions are equally supportive of children's adjustment across ages. Recent findings challenge this assumption, suggesting that during middle childhood, socialization practices previously understood as supportive may in fact impede children's social adjustment. We explored this possibility in a sample of 203 third‐grade children and their mothers. Using structural equation modeling, we tested associations between mothers’ supportive (i.e., problem‐ and emotion‐focused) reactions to children's negative emotions and children's social skills and problems as reported by mothers and teachers. Mothers’ supportive reactions predicted greater social adjustment in children as reported by mothers. Inverse associations, however, were found with teachers’ reports of children's social adjustment: mothers’ supportive reactions predicted fewer socioemotional skills and more problem behaviors. These contrasting patterns suggest potential unperceived costs associated with mothers’ supportiveness of children's negative emotions for third‐grade children's social adjustment in school and highlight the importance of considering associations between socialization practices and children's various social contexts. The findings also highlight a need for greater consideration of what supportiveness means across different developmental periods. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 510-525, August 2018.
    June 16, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12251   open full text
  • Arousal transmission and attenuation in mother–daughter dyads during adolescence.
    Jessica P. Lougheed, Tom Hollenstein.
    Social Development. June 07, 2017
    Load sharing is the process through which the emotional burdens associated with challenging situations are distributed among members within close relationships. One indicator of load sharing is efficient emotion regulation, and load sharing is related to high physical and relationship closeness between partners. The purpose of the current study was to examine load sharing in mother–daughter dyads across different emotion contexts during adolescence. We examined load sharing via mothers' and daughters' electrodermal activity, which indicates sympathetic nervous system arousal. Sixty‐six adolescent girls (Mage = 15.15 years) and their mothers participated in two 4‐min discussions, about negative and positive emotional experiences. Mothers and daughters self‐reported relationship closeness, and physical closeness was experimentally manipulated by randomly assigning mothers to either touch or not touch their daughter's hand during the discussions. Evidence of load sharing was observed for both mothers and daughters in terms of lower arousal levels and greater arousal transmission (i.e., picking up on partners' arousal) at greater physical and relationship closeness, although the specific pattern of results differed for mothers and daughters and across emotion contexts. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate that load sharing is an important interpersonal dynamic in mother–daughter dyads during adolescence.
    June 07, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12250   open full text
  • Considering economic stress and empathic traits in predicting prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latino adolescents.
    Alexandra N. Davis, Gustavo Carlo, Cara Streit, Lisa J. Crockett.
    Social Development. May 28, 2017
    The goal of the current study was to examine two competing models focusing on the roles of empathy‐related traits in the relation between economic stress and prosocial behaviors. First, we examined the mediating roles of perspective taking and empathic concern in the association between economic stress and adolescents’ prosocial behaviors. Second, we examined the moderating role of perspective taking in the association between economic stress and empathic concern, as well as the links between empathic concern and prosocial behaviors. Participants consisted of 307 (46.2% girls; M age = 15.05) U.S. Latino adolescents (77.5% U.S. Mexicans) and their primary caregivers (87.9% mothers). Primary caregivers reported on family‐level economic stress, and adolescents reported on their own perspective taking, empathic concern, and their tendency to engage in six forms of prosocial behaviors. Results demonstrated support for the moderating role of perspective taking on the link between economic stress and empathic concern, which in turn, was associated with multiple forms of helping behaviors. Economic stress was also directly associated with selfless and selfish helping behaviors. The discussion focuses on the multiple roles of empathic traits in understanding the links between economic stress and prosocial outcomes in U.S. Latino youth.
    May 28, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12249   open full text
  • Verbalizing a commitment reduces cheating in young children.
    Angela D. Evans, Alison M. O'Connor, Kang Lee.
    Social Development. May 21, 2017
    Children are frequently given rules and permissions that contrast their self‐interest, resulting in cheating behavior. The present study examined whether a verbalized commitment without the word ‘promise’ could reduce cheating rates in young children and whether this technique would be significantly more effective than a simple affirmation to a request not to cheat. Ninety‐nine 3‐to‐5‐year‐olds were randomly assigned to one of three obligation conditions: control, simple ‘okay’, or a verbalized commitment condition. All children played a guessing game in which the experimenter left the room on the final trial and children were instructed not to peek at the toy in the experimenter's absence. Children were asked to agree to the request not to peek (simple ‘okay’ condition), to verbally state that they would not peek (verbalized commitment condition), or were just instructed not to peek (control condition). The verbalized commitment condition significantly reduced cheating rates compared to the other conditions, regardless of age. Furthermore, among those who cheated, children in the verbalized commitment condition took significantly longer to peek compared to the other conditions. Results suggest that a verbal commitment without the word ‘promise’ can be an effective method to reduce young children's cheating behavior.
    May 21, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12248   open full text
  • Longitudinal relations among parenting daily hassles, child rearing, and prosocial and aggressive behaviors in Turkish children.
    Zehra Gülseven, Gustavo Carlo, Cara Streit, Asiye Kumru, Bilge Selçuk, Melike Sayıl.
    Social Development. May 16, 2017
    The present study was designed to examine the longitudinal relations between parenting daily hassles and young children's later prosocial and aggressive behaviors, as well as the mediating role of parenting practices in a non‐Western society. The final sample was 159 middle class Turkish school age children (45.3% girls, Mage= 84.69 months, 76.9% from public school, 23.1% from private school in Bolu, Ankara, and İstanbul) and their mothers. Overall, we found longitudinal evidence that parenting daily hassles, warmth, and physical punishment were significantly and differentially associated with children's prosocial and aggressive behaviors 3 years later. The present findings extend our understanding of the interplay of parenting and stress in predicting children's prosocial and aggressive development in a non‐Western culture.
    May 16, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12247   open full text
  • Maternal and paternal reactions to child sadness predict children's psychosocial outcomes: A family‐centered approach.
    Rachel L. Miller‐Slough, Julie C. Dunsmore, Janice L. Zeman, Wesley M. Sanders, Jennifer A. Poon.
    Social Development. May 15, 2017
    --- - |2 Abstract Parents' reactions to children's emotions shape their psychosocial outcomes. Extant research on emotion socialization primarily uses variable‐centered approaches. This study explores family patterns of maternal and paternal responses to children's sadness in relation to psychosocial outcomes in middle childhood. Fifty‐one families with 8‐ to 12‐year‐old children participated. Mothers and fathers reported their reactions to children's sadness and children's social competence and psychological adjustment. Cluster analyses revealed three family patterns: Supportive (high supportive and low non‐supportive reactions from both parents), Not Supportive (low supportive reactions from both parents), and Father Dominant (high paternal supportive and non‐supportive reactions, low maternal supportive and non‐supportive reactions). Supportive families had children with higher social competence and more internalizing symptoms whereas Father Dominant families had children with lower social competence and fewer internalizing symptoms. Not Supportive families had children with average social competence and fewer internalizing symptoms. Findings are discussed in relation to the “divergence model” which proposes that a diverse range of parental responses to children's sadness, rather than a uniformly supportive approach, may facilitate children's psychosocial adjustment. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 495-509, August 2018.
    May 15, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12244   open full text
  • Attributing emotions to false beliefs: Development across discrete emotions.
    Adina M. Seidenfeld, Brian P. Ackerman, Carroll E. Izard.
    Social Development. May 09, 2017
    Emotion false belief (EFB) is the ability to correctly predict people's emotions given that they hold a false belief (FB). Accumulating evidence suggests that EFB understanding develops after FB understanding; however, the literature presents inconsistencies in this lag. The present study investigated the development of EFB in 85 four‐ and six‐year‐olds, and systematically compared this development to FB understanding across different emotions. Controlling for verbal ability and task demands, 6‐year‐olds scored significantly better on EFB tasks than 4‐year‐olds, and 6‐year‐olds' performance was better than chance. Performance did not vary by emotion. The data supported a developmental precedence of FB to EFB. Results suggest that children's acquisition of EFB is not due solely to verbal ability, FB understanding, or discrete emotion understanding; attributing emotions to beliefs represents a conceptual change in emotion understanding that occurs holistically. These conclusions are discussed in terms of socioemotional development.
    May 09, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12243   open full text
  • The mediating role of coping self‐efficacy beliefs on the relationship between parental conflict and child psychological adjustment.
    Heidi I. Brummert Lennings, Kay Bussey.
    Social Development. May 04, 2017
    The effect of parental conflict on children's psychological adjustment is variable. Coping self‐efficacy refers to a person's perceived ability to self‐motivate and access the required cognitive resources to take control of, or exert their coping efforts in a stressful situation. This study investigated the mediating role of children's coping self‐efficacy beliefs between parental conflict and children's psychological adjustment (internalizing, externalizing, anxiety, and prosocial behavior). The participants were 663 school students in grade 5 (M = 10.17 years, SD = .53) and grade 7 (M = 12.11 years, SD = .52). The ethnic composition of the sample was approximately 72% White, 20% Asian, 4% Middle Eastern, and 4% from other ethnic groups. Coping self‐efficacy for avoiding maladaptive cognitions mediated the effect of parental conflict on children's internalizing symptoms longitudinally. The higher the level of parental conflict, the lower the level of children's coping self‐efficacy for avoiding maladaptive cognitions and in turn the higher their levels of internalizing. These findings support the mediational role of children's coping self‐efficacy beliefs in the context of parental conflict. It is proposed that these beliefs should be considered in designing and implementing preventative interventions for children in the context of parental conflict.
    May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12241   open full text
  • From compliance to self‐regulation: Development during early childhood.
    Xin Feng, Emma G. Hooper, Rongfang Jia.
    Social Development. May 04, 2017
    This study examined the development of self‐regulation during early childhood and the reciprocal relations between self‐regulation and maternal sensitivity. Data (N = 1,364) were drawn from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD). Children's situational and committed compliance were assessed in the laboratory at 24 and 36 months, delay of gratification at 54 months, self‐control at 54 months and kindergarten age, and maternal sensitivity was observed at 24, 36, and 54 months. Self‐regulation was characterized to progress from situational compliance to committed compliance and then to fully self‐motivated regulation. Findings also suggest that the development of self‐regulation reflects an ongoing transactional process in which child self‐regulation and maternal sensitivity mutually influence each other.
    May 04, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12245   open full text
  • School context influences the ethnic identity development of immigrant children in middle childhood.
    Christia Spears Brown.
    Social Development. April 23, 2017
    The present paper describes a study investigating the ethnic identity development of Latino immigrant children (n = 155) in middle childhood (ages 8–11) in a predominantly White community. The study examined how ethnic identity was related to children's school context. School context was operationalized at the structural level, as the ethnic composition of the teachers and peers, as well as the schools' implicit messages about their valuing of multiculturalism; and the proximal interpersonal level, as children's perceptions of peer discrimination and teacher fairness. Results indicated that both the structural and proximal context predicted children's ethnic label choices, the importance placed on their ethnic identity, the positivity of their ethnic identity, and their American identity.
    April 23, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12240   open full text
  • Cultural family beliefs, maternal sacrifice, and adolescent psychological competence in Chinese poor single‐mother families.
    Janet T. Y. Leung.
    Social Development. March 19, 2017
    Research on cultural family beliefs and family processes as protective factors of adolescent development is severely lacking in the Chinese culture. Based on 432 Chinese single‐mother families living in poverty in Hong Kong, the relationships among Chinese cultural beliefs of familism, adolescent perceived maternal sacrifice, and psychological competence (indexed by a clear and healthy identity, cognitive competence, and a positive future outlook) were examined. Results showed that adolescents' perceived maternal sacrifice mediated the influence between maternal Chinese cultural beliefs of familism and the psychological competence of adolescents raised in poor single‐mother families in Hong Kong. The present study underscores the importance of cultural family beliefs and parental sacrifice on nurturing adolescent psychological competence in Chinese single‐mother families living in poverty, which contributes to the construction of a family resilience model applicable to Chinese communities.
    March 19, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12239   open full text
  • A prospective study of adolescent mothers’ social competence, children's effortful control and compliance and children's subsequent developmental outcomes.
    Danielle M. Seay, Adriana J. Umaña‐Taylor, Laudan B. Jahromi, Kimberly A. Updegraff.
    Social Development. February 21, 2017
    Previous work has established that caregiver and child temperamental characteristics are associated with child compliance. Given the critical role that parents play in this process, and that children of teen mothers are at risk for poorer developmental outcomes, it is important to understand the development of compliance in the context of at‐risk parenting such as adolescent motherhood. The current study examined child compliance (Wave 5; W5) as a mediator of the association between adolescent mothers’ social competence (Wave 4; W4) and children's behavioral and academic outcomes (Wave 6; W6), and whether this mediation varied depending on children's effortful control (W4) in a sample of 204 Mexican‐origin adolescent mothers (Mage at W4 = 19.94, SD = .99) and their children (Mage at W4 = 36.21 months, SD = .45). Adolescent mothers reported on their own social competence and their children's effortful control and externalizing problems; compliance was assessed using observational methods; and academic readiness was assessed using standardized developmental assessments. Findings based on structural equation modeling revealed that adolescent mothers’ social competence was positively related to children's compliance among children with high effortful control, but not among those with low effortful control. Moreover, child compliance mediated the longitudinal association between adolescent mothers’ social competence and child externalizing problems and academic readiness. Discussion focuses on the importance of considering the role of child temperament in understanding how adolescent mothers’ social competence is subsequently associated with children's social and academic adjustment.
    February 21, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12238   open full text
  • Longitudinal associations among adolescents’ organized activity involvement and sociopolitical values.
    Benjamin Oosterhoff, Kaitlyn A. Ferris, Cara A. Palmer, Aaron Metzger.
    Social Development. February 07, 2017
    Organized activities represent a potentially important context for the development of adolescent sociopolitical values, but few studies have examined longitudinal associations between youths’ sociopolitical values and activity involvement. Adolescents (N = 299, Time 1 Mage = 15.49, SD = .93, 62% female) reported on their organized activity involvement (volunteering, church, sports, arts/music, school and community clubs) and sociopolitical values (materialism, social dominance, authoritarianism, patriotism, spirituality) at baseline and one year later. Greater involvement in arts/music predicted lower spirituality and patriotism one year later and greater involvement in church predicted higher levels of spirituality and lower levels of social dominance one year later. Higher levels of materialism predicted less involvement in arts/music one year later and higher social dominance values predicted less involvement in volunteering one year later. Findings support the importance of organized activities in sociopolitical development, and suggest that sociopolitical values may guide decisions concerning future organized activity involvement.
    February 07, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12230   open full text
  • Academic competence perceptions moderate the effects of peer support following academic success disclosures.
    Ellen Rydell Altermatt.
    Social Development. February 06, 2017
    Academic successes are a common part of children's daily lives. Prior research indicates that children frequently attempt to capitalize on these events by sharing the good news with peers. This short‐term longitudinal study of third‐ through seventh‐grade students (N = 359) provides evidence that, for children with low academic competence perceptions, peer academic support in the form of enthusiastic responses to academic success disclosures can be a double‐edged sword. Regardless of their self‐views, perceptions of enthusiastic responses to academic success disclosures were associated with a greater willingness to disclose academic successes to friends and higher perceptions of peer academic support over time. For children with low academic competence perceptions, however, perceptions of enthusiastic responses to academic success disclosures also predicted heightened academic worry which, in turn, predicted greater endorsement of performance–avoidance goals over time. Future research will be critical in developing interventions that can assist children with low academic competence perceptions in more fully enjoying the benefits that can accrue from capitalization attempts.
    February 06, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12235   open full text
  • Observed and parent‐reported conscience in childhood: Relations with bullying involvement in early primary school.
    Pauline W. Jansen, Barbara Zwirs, Marina Verlinden, Cathelijne L. Mieloo, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Albert Hofman, Frank C. Verhulst, Wilma Jansen, Marinus H. van Ijzendoorn, Henning Tiemeier.
    Social Development. February 06, 2017
    This exploratory study aimed to examine which components of early childhood conscience predicted bullying involvement around school entry. In the population‐based Generation R Study, teacher reports of bullying involvement and parent reports of conscience were available for 3,244 children (M age = 6.7 years). Higher levels of overall conscience predicted lower bullying perpetration scores, independently of intelligence quotient, temperamental traits and sociodemographic characteristics. Particularly, the subscales guilt, confession, and internalized conduct, and to a lesser extent empathy, predicted bullying perpetration. Conscience was not related to victimization. Similar results were found using observations during so‐called ‘cheating games’ (subsample N = 450 children). Findings suggest that improving children's understanding of moral standards and norms may be a potential target for bullying intervention programs in early primary school.
    February 06, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12233   open full text
  • Children's awareness concerning emotion regulation strategies: Effects of attachment status.
    Catrinel A. Ştefan, Julia Avram, Mircea Miclea.
    Social Development. February 06, 2017
    The current study evaluated the effects of preschoolers' attachment status on their awareness concerning emotion regulation strategies. A total of 212 children between 3 and 5 years participated in this study and completed two self‐report tasks. The first was the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT), which assessed children's internal working models concerning parent–child attachment; the second evaluated children's ability to generate emotion regulation strategies in relation to three negative emotions (anger, sadness, and fear). Statistical analyses involved a mixed models multilinear regression approach controlling for age and gender. The results consistently revealed that the insecure avoidant group was significantly less likely than securely attached children to generate both comforting and self‐regulatory strategies. Surprisingly, the insecure ambivalent group showed no deficits across measured outcomes. When the analyses were conducted separately for each negative emotion, findings for co‐regulatory strategies for fear, and self‐regulatory strategies for anger also suggested that avoidantly attached children exhibited the lowest levels of awareness compared with children from the secure attachment group. These findings stress the importance of children's attachment status, and implicitly, the quality of the parent–child interactions for children's awareness of emotion regulation strategies related to negative emotions.
    February 06, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12234   open full text
  • Aggressive behaviour in adolescence: Links with self‐esteem and parental emotional availability.
    Alessandra Babore, Leonardo Carlucci, Fedele Cataldi, Vicky Phares, Carmen Trumello.
    Social Development. February 03, 2017
    Aggressive behaviours during adolescence may be predictive of later conduct disorders, hence it is important to early detect their signals and deepen the study of their possible risk factors. In order to address these issues, our study pursued two main objectives: to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of the Aggression Questionnaire Short‐Form (AQ‐SF), a form never previously used among Italian adolescents; and to investigate the relation among aggressiveness, emotional relationship with both parents and self‐esteem in a sample of adolescents. Our results highlighted that psychometric properties of the Italian AQ‐SF are satisfactory and encourage a wider use of this tool; in addition, we found that self‐esteem plays a mediation role between parental emotional availability and aggression. Prevention efforts should focus on improving the relationship with both parents and strengthening adolescent's self‐esteem.
    February 03, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12236   open full text
  • Diathesis stress or differential susceptibility? testing longitudinal associations between parenting, temperament, and children's problem behavior.
    Sabine Stoltz, Roseriet Beijers, Sanny Smeekens, Maja Deković.
    Social Development. February 03, 2017
    In this study we investigated longitudinal associations among parenting, children's temperamental negative affectivity, and internalizing and externalizing behavior. Second, we tested whether findings confirmed the diathesis‐stress model or differential susceptibility theory when conducting stringent interaction tests. The sample included 129 children and their families. Parenting quality (age 5) was measured by parent–child interaction observations. Parents evaluated child negative affectivity (age 7) and teachers reported on problem behavior (age 12). Multiple regression analyses revealed an interaction effect of negative affectivity and parenting on externalizing behavior. Visual inspection suggested ‘for better and for worse’ effects of parenting for children with negative affectivity. However, more stringent tests failed to show convincing evidence for differential susceptibility theory. For internalizing behavior, negative affectivity may render children vulnerable regardless of parenting. Our results point at the importance of further testing interaction effects to distinguish between differential susceptibility theory and the diathesis‐stress model.
    February 03, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12237   open full text
  • Supporting the development of empathy: The role of theory of mind and fantasy orientation.
    Melissa McInnis Brown, Rachel B. Thibodeau, Jillian M. Pierucci, Ansley Tullos Gilpin.
    Social Development. February 01, 2017
    Theory of mind (ToM) and empathy are separate, but related components of social understanding. However, research has not clearly defined the distinctions between them. Similarly, related constructs, such as fantasy orientation (FO), are associated with better ToM understanding; however, little is known about how FO may provide a context in which both ToM and affective empathy develop. Children between the ages of 3 and 5 (N = 82) completed a battery of ToM, empathy, and FO measures. Results demonstrated a developmental progression from ToM to affective empathy: 3‐year‐olds were likely to have neither, 4‐year‐olds were likely to have ToM only, and 5‐year‐olds were likely to have both. Additionally, results indicated that FO predicted affective empathy above and beyond ToM ability, suggesting that children whose play is high in fantasy are more practiced than their peers in sharing emotions. These findings are discussed in terms of how children's propensity toward fantasy play may contribute to their social development.
    February 01, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12232   open full text
  • Executive function and theory of mind as predictors of aggressive and prosocial behavior and peer acceptance in early childhood.
    Sarah E. O'Toole, Claire P. Monks, Stella Tsermentseli.
    Social Development. January 25, 2017
    Executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) are related to children's social interactions, such as aggression and prosocial behavior, as well as their peer acceptance. However, limited research has examined different forms of aggression and the moderating role of gender. This study investigated links between EF, ToM, physical and relational aggression, prosocial behavior and peer acceptance and explored whether these relations are gender specific. Children (N = 106) between 46‐ and 80‐months‐old completed tasks assessing cool and hot EF and ToM. Teaching staff rated children's aggression, prosocial behavior, and peer acceptance. EF and ToM predicted physical, but not relational, aggression. Poor inhibition and delay of gratification were uniquely associated with greater physical aggression. EF and ToM did not predict prosocial behavior or peer acceptance. Added to this, gender did not moderate the relation between either EF or ToM and social outcomes. The correlates of aggression may therefore differ across forms of aggression but not between genders in early childhood.
    January 25, 2017   doi: 10.1111/sode.12231   open full text
  • Deconstructing maternal sensitivity: Predictive relations to mother‐child attachment in home and laboratory settings.
    Heidi N. Bailey, Annie Bernier, Andrée‐Anne Bouvette‐Turcot, George M. Tarabulsy, David R. Pederson, Fabienne Becker‐Stoll.
    Social Development. November 22, 2016
    Despite the well‐documented importance of parental sensitivity for child development, there is a lack of consensus regarding how best to assess it. We investigated the factor structure of maternal caregiving behavior as assessed at 12 months by the Maternal Behavior Q‐Sort (Pederson & Moran) with 274 mother‐infant dyads. Subsequently, we examined associations between these empirically‐derived dimensions and child attachment, assessed in the home and laboratory (final N = 157). Three dimensions of maternal behavior were identified, corresponding fairly closely to Ainsworth's original scales. They were labeled Cooperation/Attunement, Positivity, and Accessibility/Availability. Only Cooperation/Attunement consistently predicted home‐based attachment at 15 months and 2 years, and at comparable strength to the overall sensitivity score, suggesting that this construct may be central to sensitivity. At 18 months, compared to their primarily secure counterparts, different types of laboratory‐assessed insecure attachment were associated with different patterns of maternal behavior. Mothers in avoidant relationships (n = 18) were low on Cooperation/Attunement and Accessibility/Availability, but fairly high on Positivity. Mothers of disorganized infants (n = 11) were Cooperative/Attuned but somewhat less Positive toward, and less Accessible/Available to, their infants. A multidimensional approach to parental behavior may facilitate the identification of parenting precursors of insecure parent‐child relationships.
    November 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12220   open full text
  • Narrative skills predict peer adjustment across elementary school years.
    Alice J. Davidson, Marsha D. Walton, Bhavna Kansal, Robert Cohen.
    Social Development. November 10, 2016
    The importance of peer adjustment in middle childhood coincides with developing social cognitive and discursive skills that include the ability to make personal narrative accounts. Authoring personal stories promotes attention to the sequence of events, the causal connections between events, the moral significance of what has happened, and the motives that drive human action: these skills may be critical for the establishment and maintenance of satisfying peer relationships during elementary school. This study extended previous research by considering whether narrative skills in written stories about peer interactions predicted peer adjustment. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, 92 children wrote narratives about peer experiences and completed surveys on measures of peer adjustment for two school years. Cross‐lagged panel models indicated that chronological and thematic coherence and reports of moral concerns in narratives in the first year of the study contributed to lower peer disliking in the subsequent academic year. Reports of motives in Year 1 narratives contributed to lower levels of loneliness and peer victimization in Year 2. Writing personal narratives that are coherent and attentive to moral concerns and motives may be especially beneficial for children who have difficulty connecting with peers. We discuss implications for classroom practices.
    November 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12219   open full text
  • Daily links between school problems and youth perceptions of interactions with parents: A diary study of school‐to‐home spillover.
    Sunhye Bai, Bridget M. Reynolds, Theodore F. Robles, Rena L. Repetti.
    Social Development. November 10, 2016
    This study examined how academic and peer problems at school are linked to family interactions at home on the same day, using eight consecutive weeks of daily diary data collected from early adolescents (60% female; M age = 11.28, SD = 1.50), mothers and fathers in 47 families. On days when children reported more academic problems at school, they, but not their parents, reported less warmth and more conflict with mothers, and more conflict and less time spent around fathers. These effects were partially explained by same‐day child reports of higher negative mood. Peer problems were less consistently associated with parent‐child interactions over and above the effects of academic problems that day. A one‐time measure of parent‐child relationship quality moderated several daily associations, such that the same‐day link between school problems and child‐report of family interactions was stronger among children who were closer to their parents.
    November 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12229   open full text
  • Young adults in the United States and Benin reason about gendered cultural traditions.
    Clare Conry‐Murray, Leigh A. Shaw.
    Social Development. November 06, 2016
    This study explored emerging and young adults’ reasoning about cultural practices in West Africa. American (Study 1, n = 78, M = 20.76 years) and Beninese (Study 2, n = 93, M = 23.61 years) undergraduates were surveyed about their evaluations of corporal punishment, scarification, and schooling restrictions in conditions where the practices had gender‐neutral or gender‐specified targets. In Study 1, the majority (69%) of American participants negatively evaluated the practices, especially when targets were female. However, the majority (73%) assumed the cultural practices were consensual. In Study 2, the majority (76%) of Beninese participants negatively evaluated the practices, and their evaluations did not vary by gender of the target. Few (10%) Beninese participants assumed the cultural practices were consensual. In both studies, emerging and young adults who initially judged practices positively changed their evaluations with a change in consent.
    November 06, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12228   open full text
  • Substance use and decision‐making in adolescent best friendship dyads: The role of popularity.
    Erik de Water, William J. Burk, Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Anouk Scheres.
    Social Development. November 06, 2016
    In adolescent best friendship dyads, we examined: (a) similarity in substance use and decision‐making; (b) associations between participants' decision‐making and their own and best friend's substance use, (c) the influence of relative popularity within the dyad on these associations. Participants (n = 172; 12–18 years) named their best friend, completed popularity ratings, and a substance use questionnaire. Computer tasks were administered to assess risk‐taking and immediate reward preferences. Reciprocated same‐sex best friendship dyads (n = 49) were distinguished on their popularity, and we controlled for age differences between dyads in the analyses. Best friends were similar in substance use and risk‐taking preferences. More popular friends' risk‐taking preferences were positively associated with alcohol use of less popular friends. These findings underscore best friendship similarity in risky behaviors, and the influence of popular friends.
    November 06, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12227   open full text
  • Parent emotion socialization and children's socioemotional adjustment: when is supportiveness no longer supportive?
    Scott P. Mirabile, Dejah Oertwig, Amy G. Halberstadt.
    Social Development. November 06, 2016
    --- - |2 Abstract Parents' supportive emotion socialization behaviors promote children's socioemotional competence in early childhood, but the nature of parents' supportiveness may change over time, as children continue to develop their emotion‐related abilities and enter contexts that require more complex and nuanced social skills and greater autonomy. To test whether associations between parents' supportiveness of children's negative emotions and children's socioemotional adjustment vary with child age, 81 parents of 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children completed questionnaires assessing their responses to children's negative emotions and their children's emotion regulation, lability, social competence, and behavioral adjustment. As predicted, child age moderated the associations between parents' supportiveness and children's socioemotional adjustment. For younger children, parents' supportiveness predicted better emotion regulation and less anxiety/internalizing and anger/externalizing problems. However, for older children, these associations were reversed, suggesting that socialization strategies which were supportive for younger children may fail to foster socioemotional competence among 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children. These results suggest the importance of considering emotion socialization as a dynamic, developmental process, and that parents' socialization of children's emotions might need to change in response to children's developing emotional competencies and social demands. - Social Development, Volume 27, Issue 3, Page 466-481, August 2018.
    November 06, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12226   open full text
  • Gene‐environment correlations in the cross‐generational transmission of parenting: Grandparenting moderates the effect of child 5‐HTTLPR genotype on mothers' parenting.
    Daniel C. Kopala‐Sibley, Elizabeth P. Hayden, Shiva M. Singh, Haroon I. Sheikh, Katie R. Kryski, Daniel N. Klein.
    Social Development. October 28, 2016
    Evidence suggests that parenting is associated cross‐generationally and that children's genes may elicit specific parenting styles (evocative gene‐environment correlation). This study examined whether the effect of children's genotype, specifically 5‐HTTLPR, on mothers' parenting behaviors was moderated by her own parenting experiences from her mother. Two independent samples of three‐year‐olds (N = 476 and 405) were genotyped for the serotonin transporter gene, and observational measures of parenting were collected. Mothers completed measures of the parenting they received as children. The child having a short allele on 5‐HTTLPR was associated with more maternal hostility (Samples 1 and 2) and with less maternal support (Sample 1), but only if the mother reported lower quality grandmothers' parenting (abuse and indifference in Sample 1 and lower levels of grandmother care in Sample 2). Results support the possibility of a moderated evocative gene‐environment correlation.
    October 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12221   open full text
  • Parents' beliefs about children's emotions, children's emotion understanding, and classroom adjustment in middle childhood.
    Patricia T. Garrett‐Peters, Vanessa L. Castro, Amy G. Halberstadt.
    Social Development. October 24, 2016
    To explore how parental socialization of emotion may influence children's emotion understanding, which then guides children's interpretations of emotion‐related situations across contexts, we examined the pathways between socialization of emotion and children's adjustment in the classroom, with children's emotion understanding as an intervening variable. Specifically, children's emotion understanding was examined as a mediator of associations between mothers' beliefs about the value and danger of children's emotions and children's adjustment in the classroom within an SEM framework. Classroom adjustment was estimated as a latent variable and included social, emotional, and behavioral indices. Covariates included maternal education, and child gender and ethnicity. Participants were a diverse group of 201 third‐graders (116 African American, 81 European American, 4 Biracial; 48.8% female), their mothers, and teachers. Results revealed that emotion‐related beliefs (value and danger) had no direct influence on classroom adjustment. However, children whose mothers endorsed the belief that emotions are dangerous demonstrated less emotion understanding and were less well‐adjusted in the classroom. Mothers' belief that emotions are valuable was not independently associated with emotion understanding. Findings point to the important role of emotion understanding in children's development across contexts (family, classroom) and developmental domains (social, emotional, behavioral) during the middle childhood years.
    October 24, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12222   open full text
  • Do young children preferentially trust gossip or firsthand observation in choosing a collaborative partner?
    Lou Haux, Jan M. Engelmann, Esther Herrmann, Michael Tomasello.
    Social Development. October 24, 2016
    From early on in ontogeny, young children hear things being said about particular individuals. Here we investigate the ways in which testimony with social content, that is, gossip, influences children's decision‐making. We explored whether five‐year‐old (N = 72) and seven‐year‐old (N = 72) children trust gossip or firsthand observation in a partner choice setting. Seven‐year‐old children preferentially trusted what they had seen firsthand over gossip; five‐year‐old children, in contrast, did not differentiate between these two sources of information. However, five‐year‐old children (but not seven‐year‐olds) generally gave negative information more weight, that is, they showed a “negativity bias.” These results suggest that at around school age, young children become more “epistemically vigilant” about gossip.
    October 24, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12225   open full text
  • Self‐control, peer preference, and loneliness in Chinese children: A three‐year longitudinal study.
    Junsheng Liu, Bowen Xiao, Will E. Hipson, Robert J. Coplan, Dan Li, Xinyin Chen.
    Social Development. October 24, 2016
    The purpose of this study was to explore the longitudinal links among Chinese children's self‐control, social experiences, and loneliness, largely from a developmental cascades perspective (which postulates mechanisms about how effects within a particular domain of functioning can impact across additional domains over time). Participants were N = 1,066 primary school students in Shanghai, P. R. China, who were followed over three years from Grade 3 to Grade 5. Measures of children's behavioral self‐control, peer preference, and loneliness were obtained each year from peer nominations and child self‐reports. Results indicated that as compared with the unidirectional and bidirectional models, the developmental cascade model represented the best fit for the data. Within this model, a number of significant direct and indirect pathways were identified among variables and over time. For example, self‐control was found to indirectly contribute to later decreases in loneliness via a pathway through peer preference. As well, peer preference both directly and indirectly contributed to later increases in self‐control. Finally, loneliness directly led to decreases in self‐control from Grade 3 to Grade 4, but not from Grade 4 to Grade 5. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of self‐control for Chinese children's social and emotional functioning over time.
    October 24, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12224   open full text
  • Parent–child negative emotion reciprocity and children's school success: An emotion‐attention process model.
    Anat Moed, Elizabeth T. Gershoff, Nancy Eisenberg, Claire Hofer, Sandra Losoya, Tracy L. Spinrad, Jeffrey Liew.
    Social Development. October 17, 2016
    Research has demonstrated that emotions expressed in parent–child relationships are associated with children's school success. Yet the types of emotional expressions, and the mechanisms by which emotional expressions are linked with children's success in school, are unclear. In the present article, we focused on negative emotion reciprocity in parent–child interactions. Using structural equation modeling of data from 138 parent to child dyads [children's mean age at Time 1 (T1) was 13.44 years, SD = 1.16], we tested children's negative emotionality (CNE) at T1 and low attention focusing (LAF) at Time 2 (T2) as sequential mediators in the relation between parent and child negative emotion reciprocity at T1 and children's grade point average (GPA) and inhibitory control at T2. Our findings supported an emotion‐attention process model: parent–child negative emotion reciprocity at T1 predicted CNE at T1, which predicted children's LAF at T2, which was, in turn, related to low inhibitory control at T2. Findings regarding children's GPA were less conclusive but did suggest an overall association of negative reciprocity and the two mediators with children's GPA. Our findings are discussed in terms of emotion regulation processes in children from negatively reciprocating dyads, and the effects of these processes on children's ability to obtain and use skills needed for success in school.
    October 17, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12217   open full text
  • The role of interactions with teachers and conflict with friends in shaping school adjustment.
    Dan Wang, Anne C. Fletcher.
    Social Development. October 17, 2016
    Fifth grade children (N = 346) identified school friends and reported on levels of conflict in relationships with these friends as well as perceived stress in relationships with teachers. Teachers and children provided ratings of problem behaviors at school, and children reported on their own perceptions of stress at school. Both less conflictual school friendships and less stressful relationships with teachers were linked with fewer feelings of stress and lower levels of problem problems at school. For the problem behaviors outcome, having more positive relationships with one set of others (teachers or friends) buffered children from experiencing negative consequences of poor relationships with the other set of individuals. The interaction effect involving friendship conflicts and stressful teacher interactions in relation to school stress was more complicated, differing for boys versus girls.
    October 17, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12218   open full text
  • Does the desire to conform to peers moderate links between popularity and indirect victimization in early adolescence?
    Leanna M. Closson, Nicole C. Hart, Leslie D. Hogg.
    Social Development. October 17, 2016
    This study of 426 Canadian early adolescents (Mage = 12.52; 53% girls) investigated whether associations between popularity and indirect victimization (i.e., reputational victimization, exclusion) varied as a function of gender and the desire to conform to characteristics and competencies that are valued within the peer group (i.e., peer conformity goals). Regression analyses revealed popularity was uniquely and positively associated with reputational victimization, but was not significantly related to exclusion after accounting for the effects of meanness and likeability. The associations between popularity and indirect victimization were moderated by peer conformity goals and gender. The results indicated that popular girls with high peer conformity goals experienced more reputational victimization and exclusion than popular girls with low peer conformity goals. However, popular boys with high peer conformity goals experienced less exclusion than popular boys with low peer conformity goals. The findings suggest that peer conformity goals carry with them some risks for popular girls, but may serve a protective function for popular boys.
    October 17, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12223   open full text
  • Differential parenting and children's social understanding.
    Sharon Pauker, Michal Perlman, Heather Prime, Jennifer M. Jenkins.
    Social Development. October 09, 2016
    In the current study, a curvilinear association was examined between differential parenting and children's social understanding as measured using standardized assessments and behavioral observations. Social understanding was comprised of theory‐of‐mind and behavior indicating understanding of others’ minds (i.e., cognitive sensitivity and internal state talk and reasoning during sibling interactions). Data came from a community sample of 372 children (51.6% males; M age = 5.57, SD = 0.77), their younger siblings (M age = 3.14, SD = 0.27), and their mothers who were observed in their homes. We hypothesized that in families with higher levels of differential parenting, both favored and disfavored older siblings would display poorer social understanding, but that disfavored children would be more negatively impacted. Results from a hierarchical regression analysis indicated an inverse linear effect, rather than a curvilinear relationship, between being favored by mother and siblings’ social understanding. Specifically, disfavored older children showed higher levels of social understanding when interacting with their favored younger sibling. This relationship remained significant after controlling for variables such as age, SES, and language. Findings suggest that differential parenting plays a role in children's ability to understand others.
    October 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12214   open full text
  • Friends in high places: A dyadic perspective on peer status as predictor of friendship quality and the mediating role of empathy and prosocial behavior.
    Rosa Meuwese, Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Berna Güroğlu.
    Social Development. October 09, 2016
    Friendships and peer status play important roles in the social landscape of adolescents and are related to developmental outcomes. Yet, how peer status is related to friendship quality and what role social skills play in this association remains unclear. In this study, we use Actor–Partner Interdependence (Mediation) Modeling (Ledermann, Macho, & Kenny, 2011) to investigate how two forms of peer status, preference and popularity, are related to positive and negative friendship quality in mid‐adolescence. Results show that adolescents who are friends with more preferred (i.e., likeable) and popular adolescents report higher friendship quality. These partner effects were partially mediated by adolescents’ own prosocial behavior and their friends’ empathy levels. Higher levels of empathy of one's friend and one's own lesser preference for equity explained why adolescents were more satisfied in a friendship with highly preferred (i.e., likeable) adolescents. Interestingly, empathy was not a mediator for the link between friendship quality and popularity. These findings promote a better understanding of the interplay between different levels of social complexity (i.e., individual, dyadic and peer group level) in adolescence.
    October 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12213   open full text
  • Self‐regulation in early childhood: The role of siblings, center care and socioeconomic status.
    Agathe Backer‐Grøndahl, Ane Nærde.
    Social Development. September 20, 2016
    Differences in children's self‐regulation are assumed to be explained by genetic factors, socialization experiences, and sociodemographic risk. As for socialization, little research has addressed the influence of having siblings or attending early center based child care on emerging self‐regulation. As regarding sociodemographic risk, few studies have been conducted in countries characterized by high equality and little poverty. In a longitudinal study following 1157 children, we investigated presence of siblings, center care exposure in the first 3 years of life (attendance, hours, and child group size), and family socioeconomic status (SES) as predictors of hot and cool effortful control (EC), at the child's age 48 months. The results showed that having a sibling was consistently related to better hot EC, whereas higher SES predicted better cool EC. A small effect implied that hours in center care at 36 months negatively predicted hot EC, whereas center care group size at 36 months modestly predicted better cool EC. Otherwise, center care variables were unrelated to self‐regulation.
    September 20, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12216   open full text
  • Exuberance, attention bias, and externalizing behaviors in Chinese preschoolers: A longitudinal study.
    Jie He, Pengchao Li, Weiyang Wu, Shuyi Zhai.
    Social Development. September 20, 2016
    Exuberance, a temperament type influenced by approach motivation, has been found to be associated with maladaptive behaviors such as more externalizing behaviors in early childhood. A possible mechanism underlying it is children's selective attention to environmental cues. However, few studies have investigated the effect of attention bias on the relation between exuberance and externalizing behaviors. This longitudinal study examined the association of temperamental exuberance (as assessed by behavioral observation and parental report) at 3 years old with attention bias to reward and punishment (as assessed by a spatial cueing task) and teachers' reports of externalizing behaviors at 5 years old in 153 Chinese preschool‐age children. As predicted, externalizing behaviors were positively predicted by exuberance and attention bias to reward. However, novel findings were that attention bias to punishment moderated the relation between exuberance and externalizing behaviors, such that exuberant children showed an increased risk of externalizing behaviors when they did not have high punishment bias. The results highlight attention bias to punishment as an important factor for the development of behavioral problems in exuberant children.
    September 20, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12215   open full text
  • Different ways of knowing a child and their relations to mother‐reported autonomy support.
    Geneviève A. Mageau, Amanda Sherman, Joan E. Grusec, Richard Koestner, Julien S. Bureau.
    Social Development. September 20, 2016
    We considered how different forms of child knowledge (i.e., mothers’ reports of taking their child's perspective, their accurate knowledge in the form of precise predictions of their child's ratings regarding distress/comforting and compliance/discipline situations, and their perceived knowledge) are differentially associated with mother‐reported autonomy support (i.e., providing meaningful rationales, providing choice, and acknowledging feelings; Koestner, Ryan, Bernieri, & Holt, ). Mothers and their children (141 dyads, M = 11 years old at Time 1) participated in a two‐wave longitudinal study with assessments made two years apart. The only form of knowledge that predicted changes in autonomy support was perspective‐taking. Autonomy support, in turn, indirectly predicted changes in distress/comforting accuracy through child‐reported self‐disclosure and directly predicted changes in perceived knowledge. These findings underline the importance of differentiating among forms of child knowledge in the study of socialization processes.
    September 20, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12212   open full text
  • Popularity: Does it magnify associations between popularity prioritization and the bullying and defending behavior of early adolescent boys and girls?
    Amanda L. Duffy, Sarah Penn, Drew Nesdale, Melanie J. Zimmer‐Gembeck.
    Social Development. August 10, 2016
    We investigated the contribution of popularity, popularity prioritization, and gender to the explanation of bullying and defending behavior. Participants were 191 early adolescents (124 girls and 67 boys), aged from 10.9 to 13.6 years. Results revealed that adolescents high on popularity were more likely to bully others. Greater popularity prioritization was also associated with more bullying among boys with high levels, and girls with low levels, of popularity. In addition, popularity was positively related to defending among girls, but not boys. Lower popularity prioritization also contributed to greater defending overall. The implications of these findings for understanding bullying and defending are discussed.
    August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12206   open full text
  • Role of Expertise, Consensus, and Informational Valence in Children's Performance Judgments.
    Janet J. Boseovski, Kimberly E. Marble, Chelsea Hughes.
    Social Development. August 02, 2016
    Two experiments examined the role of expertise, consensus, and informational valence on children's acceptance of informant testimony about the quality of work produced by a target child. In Experiment 1, 96 4‐ to 5.9‐year‐olds and 6‐ to 8‐year‐olds were told about an expert who gave a positive or negative assessment of art or music that was contradicted by one layperson or a consensus of three laypersons. Generally, participants endorsed positive assessments as correct irrespective of expertise and consensus, but older children were more likely than younger children to want to learn from the expert in the future. To examine whether reluctance to accept expertise was due to the negative quality of the information, the expert in Experiment 2 simply stated that additional work was needed. Both age groups selected the expert as correct and reported wanting to learn from the expert in the future. Contributions to social learning models are discussed.
    August 02, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12205   open full text
  • Affective ties and social information processing.
    Elizabeth A. Lemerise, Amanda Thorn, Jennifer Maulden Costello.
    Social Development. July 31, 2016
    We examined whether second‐ and fifth‐graders could display differentiated social information processing (SIP) about known peers varying in affective ties. Children's response evaluation and decision (RED) and goal importance ratings were obtained for nine ambiguous provocations involving their best friends, neutral peers, and enemies (three stories for each relationship). For each story, RED was assessed for hostile, competent and passive responses to provocation, and the importance of four social goals was rated. Both second‐ and fifth‐graders displayed RED that depended on both the type of relationship they had with the provocateur and on the type of response (hostile, competent or passive). Children's social goals were affected by their relationship with the provocateur. Younger children's failure to display sensitivity to situational cues in previous studies is likely due to the cognitive demands of reasoning about hypothetical characters rather than an insensitivity to situational cues, per se.
    July 31, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12207   open full text
  • Effect of Pet Dogs on Children's Perceived Stress and Cortisol Stress Response.
    Darlene A. Kertes, Jingwen Liu, Nathan J. Hall, Natalie A. Hadad, Clive D. L. Wynne, Samarth S. Bhatt.
    Social Development. July 28, 2016
    The present study tested whether pet dogs have stress‐buffering effects for children during a validated laboratory‐based protocol, the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST‐C). Participants were 101 children aged 7–12 years with their primary caregivers and pet dogs. Children were randomly assigned in the TSST‐C to a pet present condition or one of two comparison conditions: parent present or no support figure present. Baseline, response, and recovery indices of perceived stress and cortisol levels were computed based on children's self‐reported feelings of stress and salivary cortisol. Results indicated that in the alone (no social support) condition, children showed the expected rise for both perceived stress and cortisol response to stress. Pet dog presence significantly buffered the perceived stress response in comparison to children in the alone and parent present conditions. No main condition effect was observed for cortisol; however, for children experiencing the stressor with their pet present, lower cortisol response to stress was associated with more child‐initiated petting and less dog proximity‐seeking behavior. The results support the notion that pet dogs can provide socio‐emotional benefits for children via stress buffering.
    July 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12203   open full text
  • Bidirectional Associations Between Parental Responsiveness and Executive Function During Early Childhood.
    Emily C. Merz, Susan H. Landry, Janelle J. Montroy, Jeffrey M. Williams.
    Social Development. July 22, 2016
    In this study, we examined bidirectional associations between parental responsiveness and executive function (EF) processes in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. Participants were 534 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children (71 percent Hispanic/Latino; 28 percent African American; 1 percent European American) attending Head Start programs. At Time 1 (T1) and 6.5 months later at Time 2 (T2), parents and children participated in a videotaped free play session and children completed delay inhibition (gift delay‐wrap, gift delay‐bow) and conflict EF (bear/dragon, dimensional change card sort) tasks. Parental warm acceptance, contingent responsiveness, and verbal scaffolding were coded from the free play videos and aggregated to create a parental responsiveness latent variable. A cross‐lagged panel structural equation model indicated that higher T1 parental responsiveness significantly predicted more positive gain in delay inhibition and conflict EF from T1 to T2. Higher T1 delay inhibition, but not T1 conflict EF, significantly predicted more positive change in parental responsiveness from T1 to T2. These associations were not explained by several possible confounding variables, including children's age, gender, race/ethnicity, and verbal ability. Findings suggest that parental responsiveness may support EF development in disadvantaged children, with reciprocal effects of delay inhibition on parental responsiveness.
    July 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12204   open full text
  • School Bullying and Moral Reasoning Competence.
    Michael Grundherr, Anja Geisler, Manuel Stoiber, Mechthild Schäfer.
    Social Development. June 26, 2016
    To examine whether high moral reasoning competence of adolescents is associated with low levels of bullying, and to understand whether moral disengagement mediates or moderates this relationship, 925 German children ranging from 11 to 17 years of age (M = 14.18, SD = 1.21) completed questionnaires on moral reasoning competence and moral disengagement in surveys at three different schools. The children were classified according to their bullying role, based on a peer‐nomination procedure. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that moral reasoning competence negatively predicted whether a student took an aggressive role. Moral disengagement partially mediated this relationship. Corresponding effects for defenders and outsiders were not found. These results extend previous findings about the effect of moral reasoning on bullying in primary school. The implications for the prevention of bullying are discussed.
    June 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12199   open full text
  • Language Matching Among Mother‐child Dyads: Associations with Child Attachment and Emotion Reactivity.
    Jessica L. Borelli, Kizzann A. Ramsook, Patricia Smiley, David Kyle Bond, Jessica L. West, Katherine H. Buttitta.
    Social Development. June 26, 2016
    Links between mother‐infant affective matching and attachment security are well‐documented, but research on other types of behavioral matching and attachment security are lacking, as are studies that examine these constructs later in children's development. We examine language style matching (LSM) between mothers and their school‐aged children (N = 68), using interviews with each dyad member. As predicted, regressions revealed that higher mother‐child relational LSM was associated with greater child attachment security (operationalized as high security, low dismissal), and that higher LSM predicted smaller increases in children's electrodermal response to a relational probe 1.5 years later. Further, mother‐child relational LSM was a mediator in the indirect path between children's attachment security and children's reactivity. We discuss the potential utility of LSM as a measure of relationship quality and future studies that could refine our understanding of parent‐child language matching.
    June 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12200   open full text
  • Mutual Positive Emotion with Peers, Emotion Knowledge, and Preschoolers' Peer Acceptance.
    Eric W. Lindsey.
    Social Development. June 26, 2016
    Preschool children's emotion knowledge was examined as a possible mediator of the link between their mutual positive emotional expressiveness with peers and peer acceptance. Data were collected from 122 preschool children (57 boys, 65 girls; 86 European American, 9 African American, 17 Hispanic, and 10 other ethnicity; M age = 57.61 months) over a period of 2 years. In year 1 observations were made of children's emotional expressiveness with peers, and children completed sociometric interviews. In year 2, children completed emotion knowledge interviews and sociometric interviews. Analyses revealed that children who expressed more mutual positive emotion with peers in year 1 were better liked by peers in year 2, after controlling for year 1 peer acceptance. Mutual positive emotion in year 1 was associated with children's emotion knowledge in year 2. Both year 1 mutual positive emotion and year 2 emotion knowledge made independent contributions to peer acceptance in year 2.
    June 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12201   open full text
  • The Influence of Competition on Resource Allocation in Preschool Children.
    Anna‐Theresa Pappert, Amanda Williams, Chris Moore.
    Social Development. June 26, 2016
    To examine how competition influences resource allocation in 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds, children were assigned to one of two conditions. In the experimental condition children colored a picture for a coloring contest whereas in the control condition they colored a picture to decorate a wall. Subsequently, all children participated in a resource allocation task with another child who was introduced as another participant in the coloring contest or who would also be coloring a picture for the wall. Finally, children were asked how many crayons (out of eight) they wanted to provide to the other child. In the resource allocation task, children made decisions about how to allocate stickers to self and other across four trial types: cost and no cost variations of both advantageous and disadvantageous inequality trials. Children were less prosocial in the experimental condition than in the control condition but only in disadvantageous inequality trials involving a cost. Children in the experimental condition withheld more crayons compared to children in the control condition. These results suggest that competition not only decreases prosocial behavior directly linked to the competition but also decreases generosity when provided with an unrelated resource allocation opportunity.
    June 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12202   open full text
  • Measuring Children's Church‐Based Social Support: Development and Initial Validation of the Kids’ Church Survey.
    Robert G. Crosby, Erin I. Smith.
    Social Development. June 09, 2016
    Given the importance of considering context in development, the goal of the present study was to develop and provide initial validity evidence for the Kids’ Church Survey (KCS), a new measure of children's church‐based social support. Data were collected from 1253 children ages 6–14 attending mainline Protestant, evangelical Protestant, and Catholic churches. Parallel and exploratory factor analyses supported a three‐factor solution: received (emotional) church support, perceived church support from peers, and perceived church support from adults. Confirmatory models conducted with independent samples provided an excellent fit for the data. All three scales evidenced acceptable internal (.78–.92) and test–retest (.88–.95) reliability. Measurement invariance was demonstrated across genders and age groups, with the exception of the perceived peer support scale, which was not invariant across ages. The KCS was sensitive to between‐church differences in children's programs and incrementally predicted self‐esteem, prosocial behavior, and spirituality. Applications for researchers, mental health practitioners, and clergy are discussed.
    June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12198   open full text
  • Children's Physiological Regulation and Sibling Conflict as Correlates of Children's Conscience Development.
    Meghan B. Scrimgeour, Emily C. Mariotti, Alysia Y. Blandon.
    Social Development. May 26, 2016
    Children's conscience, including the ability to experience guilt and engage in rule‐compatible behavior, develops across early childhood. The current study investigated whether within‐family variation in children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and sibling conflict behavior were associated with individual differences in children's guilt and internalized conduct. Between‐family differences across sibling dyad gender compositions were also examined. A within‐family design that included 70 families with two siblings between the ages of 2 and 5 was utilized. Children's baseline RSA was measured while sitting quietly with their family. Mothers and fathers completed questionnaires that assessed siblings’ conflict behavior, guilt, and internalized conduct. Older siblings had higher levels of guilt and internalized conduct than younger siblings. Results from actor‐partner interdependence models indicated that there were no direct effects of children's baseline RSA. The interaction effects approached significance (p's ≤ .08) suggesting that older siblings’ conflict moderated the association between older siblings’ baseline RSA and both older and younger siblings’ guilt. In contrast, older siblings’ conflict was positively associated with older and younger siblings’ internalized conduct. Guilt and internalized conduct also differed for older and younger siblings in different dyad gender compositions. The results underscore the need for greater clarity regarding the function that siblings serve in promoting children's moral development during early childhood.
    May 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12194   open full text
  • Bullying Involvement and Empathy: Child and Target Characteristics.
    Tirza H. J. van Noorden, Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Gerbert J. T. Haselager, Tessa A. M. Lansu, William M. Bukowski.
    Social Development. May 26, 2016
    This study investigated how the bullying involvement of a child and a target peer are related to empathy. The role of gender was also considered. We hypothesized that empathy primarily varies depending on the bullying role of the target peer. Participants were 264 7–12‐year‐old children (Mage = 10.02, SD = 1.00; 50% girls) from 33 classrooms who had been selected based on their bullying involvement (bully, victim, bully/victim, noninvolved) in the classroom. Participants completed a cognitive and affective empathy measure for each selected target classmate. We found no differences in cognitive and affective empathy for all targets combined based on children's own bullying involvement. However, when incorporating the targets’ bullying involvement, bullies, victims, and bully/victims showed less empathy for each other than for noninvolved peers. Noninvolved children did not differentiate between bullies, victims and bully/victims. Girls reported more cognitive and affective empathy for girls than boys, whereas boys did not differentiate between girls and boys. The results indicated that children's empathy for peers depends primarily on the characteristics of the peer, such as the peer's bullying role and gender.
    May 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12197   open full text
  • The Buffering Role of Social Support on the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Orphans in Rwanda.
    Tehetna Alemu Caserta, Raija‐Leena Punamäki, Anna‐Maija Pirttilä‐Backman.
    Social Development. May 19, 2016
    Little is known about the buffering role of social support among orphans living in Africa. This study examined (1) how perceived social support (PSS) varied across orphan‐related characteristics (e.g., orphan status, such as single, maternal or paternal, and their living environments, such as in child‐headed households, on the street, in an orphanage or in a foster home) and (2) the relative importance of sources of PSS (relatives/community/adults and peers) and functional social support (emotional/informational/instrumental and social) and its association with emotional well‐being and mental distress. The participants included 430 orphaned Rwandan children and youth aged between 10 and 25 years (Mean age= 17.74), of whom (n =179, 41.6 percent) were females and (n = 251, 58.4 percent) were males. Result showed that children living in an orphanage exhibited a higher level of PSS from all sources of social support than did children in other living environments. A higher level of PSS from relatives, communities and adults was associated with high level of emotional well‐being, and only adult support was associated with low level of mental distress. Furthermore, the functional PSS indicated that emotional support and companionship support were equally important in their association with higher levels of emotional well‐being and lower levels of mental distress. The findings highlight the importance of having different sources of social support and their functions in relation to psychosocial well‐being.
    May 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12190   open full text
  • Child‐caregiver Attachment Representations in a Non‐Western Context: The Feasibility and Cultural Equivalence of Story Stems in Urban Ghana.
    Ming Wai Wan, Adam Nyarkoh Danquah, Sheriffa Mahama.
    Social Development. May 19, 2016
    Story stem measures are an increasingly popular method for assessing the attachment representations of young children, but little is known of their cross‐cultural applicability. This study aimed to characterise the attachment representations in 73 five‐ to eight‐year‐old children in urban Ghana, West Africa, using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) to test its feasibility, psychometric characteristics and concurrent associations with caregiver‐ and teacher‐rated child behaviour, and to conduct a qualitative thematic analysis of methodological observations. Among the classifiable cases (92 percent), all attachment classifications were observed, yielding a higher rate of secure attachment than in European samples. Inter‐rater reliability, internal consistency, and internal structure were reasonable and largely similar to European studies, although one structural difference was the separation of ‘child assuagement of distress’ from other secure‐related items. MCAST narratives were associated with teacher‐ and caregiver‐rated hyperactivity, but internal consistency was low in most Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scales. Possible culturally‐sensitive explanations for our psychometric and qualitative findings are discussed. Overall, story stems are a promising tool for accessing attachment representations in non‐Western samples, although modifications are likely to improve cross‐cultural equivalence when applied to non‐Western cultures. Further investigation is needed to link MCAST outcomes to parenting and socio‐emotional development.
    May 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12196   open full text
  • Role of Temperament, Parenting Behaviors, and Stress on Turkish Preschoolers’ Internalizing Symptoms.
    H. Melis Yavuz, Bilge Selcuk, Feyza Corapci, Nazan Aksan.
    Social Development. May 10, 2016
    Child‐ and family‐related factors that predict internalizing symptoms are understudied in preschool years and have a negative influence on children's functioning. We examined observational assessments of preschoolers' temperamental fearfulness and exuberance, mother reports of negative control, warmth, and parenting stress in a sample of 109 Turkish preschoolers. High temperamental fearfulness and low joyful/exuberant positive affectivity in addition to low warmth and high parenting stress had significant effects on internalizing symptoms. Parenting stress had both direct and indirect relations to internalizing symptoms via lower maternal warmth. When comorbid elevations in externalizing symptoms were controlled, the results were consistent with the interpretation that poor parenting practices and stress associated with the parenting role predict maladaptation in general but that the specific form of maladaptation may be best predicted by individual differences in children's temperamental characteristics. This study contributes to our understanding of risk and protective factors that predict preschoolers' internalizing symptoms with a sample from a non‐Western population. These findings can guide early prevention and intervention programs to address internalizing problems in a culturally‐sensitive way.
    May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12192   open full text
  • Affective Social Competence in Adolescence: Current Findings and Future Directions.
    Jordan A. Booker, Julie C. Dunsmore.
    Social Development. May 10, 2016
    Affective Social Competence (ASC) is a conceptual framework describing complementary processes of sending, receiving, and experiencing emotions in dynamic interactions. This framework may be applied across the lifespan. To date, however, empirical studies addressing ASC have focused predominantly on childhood samples. In this review, we examine empirical evidence relevant to ASC in adolescence in comparison with childhood. We then discuss future directions that may promote understanding of Affective Social Competence among adolescent samples: the use of person‐oriented analyses to integrate all three components of ASC; consideration of understudied social contexts that may influence and be influenced by ASC; and use of microgenetic designs to examine growth across transitions during early, middle, and late adolescence.
    May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12193   open full text
  • Predictors of Children's Rights Attitudes and Psychological Well‐being Among Rural and Urban Mainland Chinese Adolescents.
    Sharon To, Charles C. Helwig, Shaogang Yang.
    Social Development. May 10, 2016
    This study examined rural and urban Chinese adolescents’ (13–19 years, N = 395) attitudes toward children's self‐determination and nurturance rights, and how these attitudes relate to various dimensions of socialization in their family and school environments, including perceptions of parental and teacher autonomy support and responsiveness and family and school democratic climate. Relations between these variables and psychological well‐being also were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that maternal responsiveness and teacher autonomy support predicted higher levels of endorsement of nurturance rights. Maternal autonomy support and tolerance of dissent at home predicted greater endorsement of self‐determination rights. Democratic climate in the home predicted higher life‐satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms, even when parent and teacher autonomy support and responsiveness were controlled. Our findings suggest that environments that are structured more democratically and that are more responsive to children's autonomy needs are associated with higher levels of endorsement of children's rights and contribute to adolescents’ psychological health and well‐being in a non‐Western culture.
    May 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12195   open full text
  • Do securely and insecurely attached children derive well‐being from different forms of gender identity?
    Meenakshi Menon, Madhavi Menon, Patrick J. Cooper, Rachel E. Pauletti, Desiree D. Tobin, Brooke C. Spatta, Christopher A. Hafen, Kätlin Peets, Ernest V. E. Hodges, David G. Perry.
    Social Development. April 27, 2016
    We examined whether attachment security moderates influences of two gender identity variables—felt gender typicality and felt pressure for gender differentiation—on preadolescents' well‐being. We tested two hypotheses. The first was that attachment security protects children from the distress that can stem from feeling gender atypical or from feeling pressure for gender conformity. The second was that secure children derive well‐being from believing they are similar to same‐gender peers whereas insecure children derive well‐being from believing it important to be different from other‐gender peers. We assessed children's attachment security, gender identity, and well‐being (self‐esteem, internalizing problems) in two successive years (N = 211, M initial age = 10.1 years). Results supported the second hypothesis. Attachment security may govern children's contingencies of well‐being.
    April 27, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12191   open full text
  • The Effect of Having Aggressive Friends on Aggressive Behavior in Childhood: Using Propensity Scores to Strengthen Causal Inference.
    Angela K. Henneberger, Donna L. Coffman, Scott D. Gest.
    Social Development. March 28, 2016
    This study used propensity scores to statistically approximate the causal effect of having aggressive friends on aggressive behavior in childhood. Participants were 1355 children (53 percent girls; 31 percent minority) in 97 third and fifth grade classrooms enrolled in the Classroom Peer Ecologies Project. Propensity scores were calculated to control for the impact of 21 relevant confounder variables related to having aggressive friendships and aggressive behavior. The 21 variables included demographic, social, and behavioral characteristics measured at the beginning of the school year. Presence/absence of aggressive friends was measured in the middle of the school year, and aggressive behavior was measured at the end of the school year. Results indicated a significant effect of having one or more aggressive friends on children's aggressive behavior above and beyond the effects of the 21 demographic, social, and behavioral variables. The propensity score model was compared with two other models of peer influence. The strengths and practical challenges of using propensity score analysis to study peer influence were discussed.
    March 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12186   open full text
  • The Buffering Role of Social Support on the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Orphans in Rwanda.
    Tehetna Alemu Caserta, Raija‐Leena Punamäki, Anna‐Maija Pirttilä‐Backman.
    Social Development. March 28, 2016
    Little is known about the buffering role of social support among orphans living in Africa. This study examined (1) how perceived social support (PSS) varied across orphan‐related characteristics (e.g., orphan status, such as single, maternal or paternal, and their living environments, such as in child‐headed households, on the street, in an orphanage or in a foster home) and (2) the relative importance of sources of PSS (relatives/community/adults and peers) and functional social support (emotional/informational/instrumental and social) and its association with emotional well‐being and mental distress. The participants included 430 orphaned Rwandan children and youth aged between 10 and 25 years (Mean age = 17.74), of whom (n = 179, 41.6%) were females and (n = 251, 58.4%) were males. Result showed that children living in an orphanage exhibited a higher level of PSS from all sources of social support than did children in other living environments. A higher level of PSS from relatives, communities and adults was associated with high level of emotional well‐being, and only adult support was associated with low level of mental distress. Furthermore, the functional PSS indicated that emotional support and companionship support were equally important in their association with higher levels of emotional well‐being and lower levels of mental distress. The findings highlight the importance of having different sources of social support and their functions in relation to psychosocial well‐being.
    March 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12188   open full text
  • Adolescents' Judgments of Doubly Deviant Peers: Implications of Intergroup and Intragroup Dynamics for Disloyal and Overweight Group Members.
    Dominic Abrams, Sally B. Palmer, Julie Van de Vyver, Daniel Hayes, Katrina Delaney, Sophie Guarella, Kiran Purewal.
    Social Development. March 23, 2016
    Group membership, loyalty, and weight are highly relevant for adolescent peer evaluations at school. This research tested how in‐group/out‐group membership affected judgments of peers who deviated from social norms for weight and loyalty. Two hundred and forty 11–13‐year‐olds (49 percent female; 94 percent Caucasian) judged two in‐group or out‐group peers: one was normative (loyal and average weight) and the other was non‐normative (i.e., ‘deviant’). The deviant target was overweight, disloyal to their own group (school), or both (‘doubly deviant’). Derogation of overweight relative to average weight peers was greater if they were in‐group rather than out‐group members, revealing a strong ‘black sheep effect’ for overweight peers. Disloyal out‐group deviants were judged favorably, but this effect was eliminated if they were doubly deviant, suggesting that their disloyalty was insufficient to overcome the overweight stigma. Consistent with developmental subjective group dynamics theory, effects of group membership and types of deviance on adolescents’ favorability toward peers were mediated by adolescents’ perceptions of how well the deviant members would ‘fit’ with the in‐group school. Implications for theory and strategies to reduce peer exclusion, particularly weight stigmatization, are considered.
    March 23, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12187   open full text
  • Biases in Attention for Social Stimuli in Children are Associated with Patterns of Infant Attachment: A Brief Report.
    Paul Meinz, J. Bruce Morton, David R. Pederson, Greg Moran.
    Social Development. March 06, 2016
    The way an individual attends to social information has implications for his/her ability to regulate behavior in social settings. The results of the present investigation suggest that early experiences in parent–child relationships contribute to later differences in the deployment of attention to social information. The quality of the mother–child relationship was assessed at one‐year‐of‐age. At seven to eight years of age, a dot‐probe paradigm assessed immediate and delayed attention to pictures of faces vs. pictures of neutral objects. Children who were more avoidant with their mother in infancy attended to neutral objects over social stimuli at delayed but not immediate time frames. This finding suggests that individual differences in attention to social stimuli in childhood are associated with the quality of the prior attachment relationship with a primary caregiver.
    March 06, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12184   open full text
  • Social Victimization Trajectories From Middle Childhood Through Late Adolescence.
    Lisa H. Rosen, Kurt J. Beron, Marion K. Underwood.
    Social Development. March 06, 2016
    Social victimization refers to being targeted by behaviors intended to harm one's social status or relationships (Underwood, 2003), including malicious gossip, friendship manipulation, and social exclusion (both verbal and non‐verbal). The current study examined social victimization experiences longitudinally from middle childhood through late adolescence. Participants (N = 273, 139 females) reported on their social victimization experiences in grades 4–11 (ages 9 to 16 years). Using mixture (group‐based) modeling, four social victimization trajectories were identified: low, medium decreasing, medium increasing, and elevated. High parent‐child relationship quality decreased the odds of being in the elevated group compared to the low group; however, parent‐child relationship quality was no longer a significant predictor when emotional dysfunction was added to the model. Higher emotional dysfunction and male gender increased the odds of being in the elevated group and medium increaser group relative to the low group even after controlling for parent‐child relationship quality. Implications for intervention and future research directions are discussed.
    March 06, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12185   open full text
  • A Person‐Oriented Analysis of Social Withdrawal in Chinese Children.
    Robert J. Coplan, Junsheng Liu, Laura L. Ooi, Xinyin Chen, Dan Li, Xuechen Ding.
    Social Development. March 02, 2016
    The goal of this study was to compare the socio‐emotional and academic adjustment of different subtypes of socially withdrawn (shy, unsociable, avoidant) school‐age children in mainland China. Participants were N = 1344 children ages 10–12 years from public elementary schools in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Multi‐source assessment included: child self‐reports of social withdrawal subtypes and internalizing difficulties (e.g., depression, social anxiety); peer nominations of children's peer relations (e.g., peer victimization, peer preference); and teacher ratings of children's school adjustment (e.g., academic success, internalizing problems). Results from person‐oriented analyses indicated that socially avoidant (i.e., shy‐unsociable) children reported the most pervasive internalizing difficulties compared to other groups. However, in contrast to findings among Western samples, unsociable children were as likely to have peer and academic difficulties as their shy and socially avoidant peers. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of different subtypes of social withdrawal among children in collectivistic societies such as China.
    March 02, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12181   open full text
  • Prosocial Tendencies among Chinese American Children in Immigrant Families: Links to Cultural and Socio‐demographic Factors and Psychological Adjustment.
    Alexandra Main, Qing Zhou, Jeffrey Liew, Charlene Lee.
    Social Development. February 24, 2016
    The present study examined relations between prosocial tendencies (dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior) and psychological adjustment using a multi‐method and multi‐informant approach in a socioeconomically diverse sample of first‐ and second‐generation Chinese American children from immigrant families (N = 238, M age = 9.2 years). We tested the concurrent associations between: (a) children's dispositional sympathy (rated by parents, teachers, and children, and observed prosocial behavior), (b) psychological adjustment (parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing problems and social competence); and (c) cultural and socio‐demographic factors (children's Chinese and American orientations, family Socioeconomic Status (SES), only child status, and children's age, sex, and social desirability). Results from correlations and structural equation modeling suggested that different measures of prosocial tendencies related differently to children's psychological adjustment. Parent‐ and teacher‐rated sympathy were associated with higher child social competence and lower externalizing problems within, but not across, reporter. By contrast, child‐rated sympathy was associated with higher teacher‐rated social competence, and observed prize donation was associated with lower teacher‐rated externalizing problems. Different measures of prosocial tendencies also showed different relations to cultural and socio‐demographic factors. These findings suggest that prosocial tendencies are not a unitary construct in Chinese American immigrant children: the manifestations of prosocial tendencies and their adjustment implications might depend on the context and/or targets of these tendencies.
    February 24, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12182   open full text
  • Observed Emotions as Predictors of Quality of Kindergartners’ Social Relationships.
    Maciel M. Hernández, Nancy Eisenberg, Carlos Valiente, Tracy L. Spinrad, Sarah K. VanSchyndel, Anjolii Diaz, Kassondra M. Silva, Rebecca H. Berger, Jody Southworth.
    Social Development. February 16, 2016
    This study evaluated whether positive and anger emotional frequency (the proportion of instances an emotion was observed) and intensity (the strength of an emotion when it was observed) uniquely predicted social relationships among kindergarteners (N = 301). Emotions were observed as naturally occurring at school in the fall term and multiple reporters (peers and teachers) provided information on quality of relationships with children in the spring term. In structural equation models, positive emotion frequency, but not positive emotion intensity, was positively related to peer acceptance and negatively related to peer rejection. In contrast, the frequency of anger provided unique positive prediction of teacher–student conflict and negative prediction of peer acceptance. Furthermore, anger intensity negatively predicted teacher–student closeness and positively predicted teacher–student conflict. Implications for promoting social relationships in school are discussed.
    February 16, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12179   open full text
  • Maternal and Paternal Mental‐state Talk and Executive Function in Preschool Children.
    Joana Baptista, Ana Osório, Eva Costa Martins, Paula Castiajo, Ana Luísa Barreto, Vera Mateus, Isabel Soares, Carla Martins.
    Social Development. February 16, 2016
    The present study examined the relationship between parents’ mental‐state talk and preschoolers’ executive function. Seventy‐two children participated in the present study, as well as their mothers and fathers. When children were enrolled in the second preschool year, mothers’ and fathers’ use of mental‐state references were assessed during a shared picture‐book reading task with the child. Later, four months before admission to the first grade, preschoolers’ executive function was measured. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that maternal, but not paternal, mental‐state talk was a significant predictor of children's executive function composite, even after accounting for child gender, age, verbal ability, and parental education. When looking at each of the EF components, maternal mental‐state talk proved to be a predictor of set‐shifting whereas no significant relations emerged with inhibitory control or working memory. These findings add to prior research on parenting quality and executive function in preschoolers.
    February 16, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12183   open full text
  • Influence of Parenting Behavior on Psychosocial Adjustment in Early Adolescence: Mediated by Anger Regulation and Moderated by Gender.
    Jana Elisa Rueth, Nantje Otterpohl, Elke Wild.
    Social Development. February 16, 2016
    Emotion regulation (ER)—one of the most important developmental tasks in early adolescence—has been proposed to mediate the relation between parenting and adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of parental psychological control and autonomy support on adolescents’ problem and prosocial behavior (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), as well as to examine the mediating role of adolescents’ anger regulation and the moderating effect of gender. We collected three‐year longitudinal questionnaire data from N = 923 parents and their (at first assessment) 9‐ to 13‐year‐old children. Path‐analysis results mainly support the mediating role of adolescents’ adaptive and maladaptive anger regulation and suggest parental autonomy support to be beneficial for regulatory abilities and psychosocial adjustment, whereas the opposite was found for psychological control. Gender differences were found for parent report data, but not for adolescent report data. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
    February 16, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12180   open full text
  • Effect of Type of Maternal Control on American and Chinese Children's Evaluations of Personal Domain Events.
    Judith G. Smetana, Courtney Ball, Jenny Yau, Mun Wong.
    Social Development. January 22, 2016
    We examined 261 5‐, 7‐, and 10‐year‐olds’ (147 in Hong Kong, 114 in the USA) evaluations of hypothetical scenarios where mothers sought to control personal domain events by prohibiting, persuading, or shaming the child. The scenarios also varied in their description of personal events as either essential or peripheral to the self. Compliance was endorsed least (and emotions attributed to actors were most positive) when mothers gently persuaded and endorsed most (with emotion attributions most negative) when mothers prohibited personal choices. Evaluations of compliance and associated emotions for shaming fell in‐between. When mothers were described as gently persuading, young children (and Chinese children) gave priority to personal choices more when acts were described as essential rather than peripheral to the self, based on personal reasons. When mothers were described as shaming, noncompliance increased with age, along with pragmatic justifications for choices, particularly when events were essentialized. Positive emotions in response to shaming also increased with age, but differentially for Chinese and American children.
    January 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/sode.12178   open full text
  • Preschoolers' Mind‐related Comments During Collaborative Problem‐solving: Parental Contributions and Developmental Outcomes.
    Brenda L. Lundy, Gracee Fyfe.
    Social Development. December 29, 2015
    Preschool children's mind‐related comments were analyzed during collaborative problem‐solving interactions with mothers and fathers, and in relation to parental mind‐mindedness (MM) and children's concurrent theory of mind (ToM). Seventy‐two parents (36 fathers, 36 mothers) and their four‐year‐olds participated. Parents' comments to encourage independent thinking and children's own mind‐related comments were expected to mediate, in serial, the relationship between parental MM and children's ToM. The proposed model of mediation received empirical confirmation. In addition, mothers and fathers were found to perform similarly on two measures of MM and in their usage of autonomy promoting and control comments. Finally, no differences were found in the frequency of children's mind‐related comments during interactions with fathers and mothers.
    December 29, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12176   open full text
  • Preschool Children's Negative Emotionality and Peer Acceptance: The Moderating Role of Sleep.
    Ting Lu, Kelly M. Tu, Mona El‐Sheikh, Brian E. Vaughn.
    Social Development. December 29, 2015
    Preschool children's sleep was examined as a moderator of the association between negative emotionality and both peer acceptance and peer rejection. Participants were 115 children (47 percent girls, M age = 4.29 years, SD = .63). Preschool teachers reported on children's negative emotionality (anger/frustration, sadness, and fear). Sleep was measured objectively using actigraphy in the child's home for seven consecutive nights. Peer acceptance and rejection were assessed using children's choices in sociometric interviews. Controlling for potential confounds, moderation analyses revealed that negative emotionality predicted peer acceptance and rejection only among children with poorer sleep quality (lower sleep efficiency, more frequent wake episodes, longer sleep latency), but not better sleep quality. Findings suggest that sleep is important not only for predicting child functioning but also for moderating the adverse effects of negative emotionality on a salient indicator of interpersonal functioning for preschool age children.
    December 29, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12175   open full text
  • Contingent Self‐worth in Chinese Adolescents and Young Adults: Relations with Global Self‐Esteem and Depressive Symptoms.
    Li Chen‐Bouck, Meagan M. Patterson.
    Social Development. December 08, 2015
    Contingent self‐worth (CSW) is the extent to which an individual's sense of self‐worth is dependent on performance in a particular domain. CSW has been linked to poorer psychological health (e.g., lower global self‐esteem, greater depression and anxiety). However, the majority of work on CSW has been conducted with US college students. Far less is known about the influence of CSW for younger individuals or for non‐Western populations. This study examined relations between CSW domains and two indicators of well‐being (depressive symptoms and global self‐esteem) with Chinese adolescents (ages 13–16) and young adults (ages 19‐22). Results indicated that CSW in the domains of academic performance and others’ approval were positively related to depressive symptoms, whereas CSW in the domain of family support was negatively related to depressive symptoms. Others’ approval CSW was negatively related to self‐esteem for both adolescents and young adults, whereas CSW in the domains of academic performance and family support were related to self‐esteem for adolescents but not young adults. This study indicates that CSW is a meaningful and predictive construct for Chinese youth, and that cultural, environmental, and developmental factors may impact the relations between CSW and psychological health.
    December 08, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12173   open full text
  • Popularity and Social Preference in Chinese Adolescents: Associations with Social and Behavioral Adjustment.
    Li Niu, Shenghua Jin, Ling Li, Doran C. French.
    Social Development. December 01, 2015
    This study examined the characteristics associated with popularity and social preference in 769 14‐year‐old adolescents (54 percent boys) from mainland China. Consistent with findings from other countries, popularity and social preference were moderately correlated and overt aggression was positively correlated with popularity but negatively correlated with social preference. Prosocial behavior, athletic skill, dating, academic achievement, and mutual friends were positively associated with both popularity and social preference, with the effects for prosocial behavior, athletic skill, and dating greater for popularity than for social preference. The strong correlations between popularity and prosocial behavior are consistent with Confucian ideas of moral leadership and the obligations of high status individuals toward others. Cultural values are also reflected in the association of popularity with academic achievement. The inconsistent findings from China regarding the relation between aggression and popularity may stem from multiple factors including the absence of a suitable Chinese translation for popularity.
    December 01, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12172   open full text
  • Infants’ Style of Emotion Regulation with Their Mothers and Fathers: Concordance between Parents and the Contribution of Father–Infant Interaction Quality.
    Eva Costa Martins, Isabel Soares, Carla Martins, Ana Osório.
    Social Development. November 26, 2015
    The concordance between infants’ emotion regulation styles with different partners has not been consistently analysed nor have the relational correlates of such potential across‐partners similarities. We explored these issues by assessing 10‐month‐olds’ (59.6 percent boys) emotion regulation styles separately with mother and father and by evaluating mother–infant and father–infant interaction quality. The sample consisted of 50 low‐risk families. Two home visits were conducted and similar procedures were adopted for each visit. Parent–infant interaction quality was assessed during daily routines and during free play; both parents independently completed a temperament questionnaire. Infant emotion regulation was assessed in a semi‐structured problem‐solving task: adaptive vs. maladaptive (under and over‐regulation) styles. As predicted, infants’ emotion regulation with their mothers and fathers were related. However, only father–infant interaction quality predicted infants’ emotion regulation concordance: lower interaction quality was associated with maladaptive concordance compared with non‐concordance and higher interaction quality was associated with adaptive concordance compared with non‐concordance. Our results support the claim that by the end of the first year of life, infants use similar emotion regulation styles with mother and father and point to father–infant interaction as an important correlate of emotion regulation across‐parents.
    November 26, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12171   open full text
  • Making Amends: Children's Expectations about and Responses to Apologies.
    Marissa B. Drell, Vikram K. Jaswal.
    Social Development. November 10, 2015
    Two studies investigate children's expectations and actual responses to a transgressor's attempt to make amends. In Study 1, six‐ and seven‐year‐olds (N = 16) participated in a building activity and then imagined how they would respond if a transgressor knocked over their tower and then apologized spontaneously, apologized after prompting, offered restitution, or did nothing. Children forecasted that they would feel better and would share more when a transgressor offered restitution or apologized spontaneously than when the transgressor had to be prompted to apologize or did not apologize at all. In Study 2, six‐ and seven‐year‐olds (N = 64) participated in the same building activity, but then actually had their towers knocked over and received one of the four responses. The only response that actually made children feel better was when the transgressor offered restitution. However, children shared more with a transgressor who offered restitution, a spontaneous apology, or a prompted apology than with one who failed to offer any apology. Restitution can both mitigate hurt feelings and repair relationships in children; apologies serve mainly to repair relationships.
    November 10, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12168   open full text
  • Early Life Stress: Effects on the Regulation of Anxiety Expression in Children and Adolescents.
    Amanda R. Burkholder, Kalsea J. Koss, Camelia E. Hostinar, Anna E. Johnson, Megan R. Gunnar.
    Social Development. November 06, 2015
    This study examined children's (N = 79; 9–10 years) and adolescents’ (N = 82; 15–16 years) ability to regulate their emotion expressions of anxiety as they completed a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST‐C). Approximately half in each age group were internationally adopted from institutional care (N = 79) and half were non‐adopted, age‐matched peers (N = 82). Institutional care was viewed as a form of early life stress. Coders who were reliable and blind to group status watched videos of the session to assess anxiety expressions using the Child and Adolescent Stress and Emotion Scale developed for this study. Children exhibited more expressions of anxiety than adolescents, and youth adopted from institutions showed more expressions of anxiety than their non‐adopted counterparts. The role of early life stress on observed anxiety expressions remained significant after controlling for differences in age, physiological stress responses measured through salivary cortisol reactivity, and self‐reports of stress during the TSST‐C. This suggests possible deficits in the regulation of expressive behavior for youth with early life stress histories, which cannot be explained by experiencing the task as more stressful.
    November 06, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12170   open full text
  • Relations Between Alphabetized Name Order and Nomination Counts in Peer Nomination Measures.
    Peter E. L. Marks, Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Ben Babcock.
    Social Development. October 28, 2015
    Peer nominations, a central method for measuring peer relationships in developmental research, typically involve asking children or adolescents to choose peers who fit various criteria from an alphabetized roster of classmates or grade‐mates. Although such measures have been used for decades, very little research has investigated the effects of alphabetical name order on the number of nominations received by peers. This study collected peer nominations for 20 items among 607 eighth grade participants in two schools. Regression analyses showed that earlier name order significantly predicted higher nomination counts for eight of the items, and explained over 5 percent of the variance in four affective variables (friendship, acceptance, acquaintanceship, and received liking). Across variables, name order effects were negatively correlated with internal reliability of nominations, implying that order effects may be related to the consensus of the peer group. Name order also had a minimal effect on inter‐correlations among a subset of variables. Implications and concrete recommendations for controlling and reducing name order effects in future research are discussed.
    October 28, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12163   open full text
  • Maternal Conflict Behavior Profiles and Child Social Skills.
    Brittany P. Boyer, Justin K. Scott, Jackie A. Nelson.
    Social Development. October 28, 2015
    The current study examined associations between mothers’ behavioral profiles during mother‐child conflict interactions and their children's social skills. This person‐centered approach classified 181 mothers according to their levels of emotional responsiveness, intrusiveness, negativity, and engagement facilitation behaviors during an eight‐minute conflict discussion task with their child. Three distinct classes of mothers were identified using latent profile analysis: sensitive/engaged, moderately sensitive/engaged, and insensitive/disengaged. An analysis of covariance indicated that children of mothers in the sensitive/engaged group had significantly higher social skills than children of mothers in the moderately sensitive/engaged and insensitive/disengaged groups. Results suggest that mother‐child conflict interactions may benefit children's social development when mothers facilitate their children's participation in a highly sensitive manner.
    October 28, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12169   open full text
  • Teachers’ Effortful Control and Student Functioning: Mediating and Moderating Processes.
    Jodi Swanson, Carlos Valiente, Robert H. Bradley, Kathryn Lemery‐Chalfant, Tashia Abry.
    Social Development. October 22, 2015
    Evidence is emerging that teachers’ dispositional characteristics are related to students’ classroom functioning, but processes are not well understood. We examined associations between second‐grade teachers’ effortful control (EC), student‐teacher closeness or conflict, students’ EC, and changes in students’ externalizing behaviors and reading and math achievement. Teachers’ EC was directly related to their students’ externalizing behaviors, but not achievement. Conflict, but not closeness, mediated associations between teachers’ EC and students’ externalizing behaviors. In moderated mediation tests, conflict was positively associated with externalizing behaviors most strongly for students low or moderate in EC. Closeness was positively associated with reading achievement, and negatively associated with math achievement, only for low‐EC students.
    October 22, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12165   open full text
  • Attention and Executive Functions as Mediators of Attachment and Behavior Problems.
    Justin A. Low, Linda Webster.
    Social Development. October 22, 2015
    The purpose of this study was to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between early parent‐child interactions and subsequent behavior problems and how certain cognitive processes mediate this relation. Specifically, this study investigated whether attention, inhibition, and planning skills mediate the relation between attachment security and behavior problems. Data were collected as part of the National Institute of Child Health and Development‐Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development when children (N = 1004) were between 36 months and the third grade. Results from structural equation models indicated that sustained attention mediated the relation between disorganized attachment and social problems. Planning mediated the relation between disorganized attachment and subsequent thought problems, attention problems, and delinquent behavior. Avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized attachment directly predicted several behavior problems. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.
    October 22, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12166   open full text
  • A Three‐factor Structure of Emotion Understanding in Third‐grade Children.
    Vanessa L. Castro, Amy G. Halberstadt, Patricia Garrett‐Peters.
    Social Development. October 16, 2015
    Theoretical conceptualizations of emotion understanding generally imply a two‐factor structure comprised of recognition of emotional expressions and understanding emotion‐eliciting situations. We tested this structure in middle childhood and then explored the unique predictive value of various facets of emotion understanding in explaining children's socioemotional competence. Participants were 201 third‐grade children and their mothers. Children completed five different measures, which provided eight distinct indices of emotion understanding. Mothers completed two questionnaires assessing children's socioemotional skills and problems. Results indicated that: (a) emotion understanding in third‐grade children was differentiated into three unique factors: Prototypical Emotion Recognition, Prototypical Emotion Knowledge, and Advanced Emotion Understanding, (b) skills within factors were modestly related, (c) factors varied in complexity, supporting theoretical and empirical models detailing developmental sequencing of skills, and (d) skills in Prototypical Emotion Knowledge were uniquely related to mothers’ reports of third‐grade children's socioemotional competence. Implications regarding elementary‐school‐age children's social cognitive development are discussed.
    October 16, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12162   open full text
  • Maternal Vocal Interactions with Infants: Reciprocal Visual Influences.
    Sandra E. Trehub, Judy Plantinga, Frank A. Russo.
    Social Development. October 14, 2015
    The present study examined the influence of infant visual cues on maternal vocal and facial expressiveness while speaking or singing and the influence of maternal visual cues on infant attention. Experiment 1 asked whether mothers exhibit more vocal emotion when speaking and singing to infants in or out of view. Adults judged which of each pair of audio excerpts (in view, out of view) sounded more emotional. Face‐to‐face vocalizations were judged more emotional than vocalizations to infants out of view. Moreover, mothers smiled considerably more while singing than while speaking to infants. Experiment 2 examined the influence of video feedback from infants on maternal speech and singing. Maternal vocalizations in the context of video feedback were judged to be less emotional than those in face‐to‐face contexts but more emotional than those in out‐of‐view contexts. Experiment 3 compared six‐month‐old infants’ attention to maternal speech and singing with audio‐only versions or with silent video‐only versions. Infants exhibited comparable attention to audio‐only versions of speech and singing but greater attention to video‐only versions of singing. The present investigation is unique in documenting the contribution of infant visual feedback to maternal vocal emotion in contexts that control for infants’ presence, visibility, and proximity.
    October 14, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12164   open full text
  • Under Pressure: Individual Differences in Children's Suggestibility in Response to Intense Social Influence.
    Elizabeth R. Uhl, Catherine R. Camilletti, Matthew H. Scullin, James M. Wood.
    Social Development. October 08, 2015
    Prior research on the relation between children's suggestibility and verbal skills has yielded mixed results. This study examined children's suggestibility in a high social pressure context in conjunction with individual differences in verbal ability and social understanding. Sixty‐nine children were read a story by a classroom visitor. One week later children were asked suggestive questions about the visit and pressured to respond ‘yes’. One week after the first interview, children were re‐asked the same questions, this time with no pressure. Children's suggestibility in response to social pressure was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with receptive vocabulary knowledge, but not with social understanding, the ability to understand and interpret social interactions. In addition, suggestibility scores exhibited a distinctly bimodal distribution, with many children acquiescing to all pressured suggestions, many children acquiescing to no suggestions, and few children falling between these two extremes.
    October 08, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12156   open full text
  • Acts of Social Perspective Taking: A Functional Construct and the Validation of a Performance Measure for Early Adolescents.
    Silvia Diazgranados, Robert L. Selman, Michelle Dionne.
    Social Development. October 02, 2015
    To understand and assess how early adolescents use their social perspective taking (SPT) skills in their consideration of social problems, we conducted two studies. In study 1, we administered a hypothetical SPT scenario to 359 fourth to eighth graders. Modeled on the linguistic pragmatics of speech acts, we used grounded theory to develop a functional approach that identified three types of SPT acts: (1) the acknowledgment of different actors, (2) the articulation of their thoughts and feelings, and (3) the positioning of the roles, experiences, or circumstances that influence how they resolve problems. Study 2 tested the validity of an expanded instrument, the Social Perspective Taking Acts Measure, with 459 fourth to eighth graders. We confirmed the structure of the construct with a fully saturated confirmatory factor analysis, with factor loadings in the range of .62 and .71, and a factor determinacy of .90. We obtained evidence of criterion‐related validity by successfully predicting that girls and older participants would exhibit better performance than boys and younger students, and that SPT would exhibit a negative association with aggressive interpersonal strategies, a positive but moderate association with writing, and non‐significant associations with academic language, complex reasoning, and reading skills.
    October 02, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12157   open full text
  • Emotional Climate in Families Experiencing Homelessness: Associations with Child Affect and Socioemotional Adjustment in School.
    Madelyn H. Labella, Angela J. Narayan, Ann S. Masten.
    Social Development. September 08, 2015
    This study examined associations among family‐level risks, emotional climate, and child adjustment in families experiencing homelessness. Emotional climate, an indirect aspect of emotion socialization, was indexed by parents’ expressed emotion while describing their children. Sociodemographic risk and parent internalizing distress were hypothesized to predict more negativity and less warmth in the emotional climate. Emotional climate was expected to predict observer‐rated child affect and teacher‐reported socioemotional adjustment, mediating effects of risk. Participants were 138 homeless parents (64 percent African‐American) and their four‐ to six‐year‐old children (43.5 percent male). During semi‐structured interviews, parents reported demographic risks and internalizing distress and completed a Five Minute Speech Sample about their child, later rated for warmth and negativity. Children's positive and negative affect were coded from videotapes of structured parent‐child interaction tasks. Socioemotional adjustment (externalizing behavior, peer acceptance, and prosocial behavior) was reported by teachers a few months later. Hypotheses were partially supported. Parent internalizing distress was associated with higher parent negativity, which was linked to more negative affect in children, and parent warmth was associated with children's positive affect. Neither emotional climate nor child affect predicted teacher‐reported externalizing behavior or peer acceptance, but parental negativity and male sex predicted lower prosocial behavior in the classroom. Future research directions and clinical implications are discussed.
    September 08, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12154   open full text
  • Rules Trump Desires in Preschoolers’ Predictions of Group Behavior.
    Stéphane Bernard, Fabrice Clément, Laurence Kaufmann.
    Social Development. August 25, 2015
    The objective of this article is to investigate the way children weigh conventional rules against desires when considering how a group will behave. To do so, two experiments involving a prediction task in which desires were pitted against conventional rules were presented to three‐ to five‐year‐old children. In Experiment 1, four scenarios were established as classroom scenes in which either one protagonist or three protagonists had a desire that went against an explicit conventional rule. In the individual control condition, the choices linked to the rules were at chance whereas, in the group condition, the participants predicted that all the protagonists would end up following the rule. Given that both conditions in Experiment 1 implied four rule followers in the design, Experiment 2 staged not three but seven potential rule transgressors to see whether the desire of the majority might undermine the rule. Results showed no majority effect: participants expected protagonists to act counter to their desire and to follow the rule. Such results suggest that children as young as three‐year‐old favor rules over desires when they have to predict the behavior of a group, whether it be the majority or not. Possible implications of these intriguing findings are discussed.
    August 25, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12150   open full text
  • Mother Emotion, Child Temperament, and Young Children's Helpless Responses to Failure.
    Patricia A. Smiley, Sherylle J. Tan, Alison Goldstein, Jennifer Sweda.
    Social Development. August 18, 2015
    Young children differ in their responses to failure, displaying mastery or helpless behavior patterns. We examine the moderating role of child temperament on the association between parent warmth/negativity and children's helpless responses to failure. Regarding temperament, we focus on tendencies to experience interest and sadness because they entail task engagement and withdrawal, respectively. We measured mother (n=150) expressions of positive and negative emotion during a teaching task, assessed temperament using LabTAB‐Preschool episodes, and coded helplessness during an impossible puzzle task. Maternal negative emotion during teaching was positively associated with helplessness, but only for children low in interest. Maternal warmth was negatively associated with helplessness, but only for children high in sadness; sadness did not moderate the relation between maternal negativity and helplessness. Findings provide support for parenting by temperament goodness‐of‐fit models and for a discrete emotions approach to temperament.
    August 18, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12153   open full text
  • The Influence of Goal Value on Persistence in Exuberant Chinese Children.
    Jie He, Dong Guo, Qing Zhang, Yuxia Liu, Liyue Lou, Mowei Shen.
    Social Development. August 18, 2015
    With regard to the study of temperament and motivation in young children, exuberance, an important temperamental characteristic of the approach motivational system, has been relatively understudied in comparison with behavioral inhibition. However, due to the relationship between exuberance and behavioral regulation (e.g., problem behavior, task persistence), it is an important topic of study. Accordingly, this study examined whether the incentive value of goals moderated the relationship between exuberance and persistence in 109 Chinese preschoolers. Children's temperamental exuberance was assessed by behavioral observation and parental report. Their persistence was measured in two goal‐blocked contexts (tower‐building [TB] and locked box [LB]). In each task, children were randomly assigned to either a high‐ or low‐incentive condition designed to vary the incentive value of a given goal. Results suggested that exuberance was positively associated with persistence in the high‐incentive condition of TB and in both conditions of LB. The results highlight the incentive value of goals as an important factor for behavioral regulation development in exuberant Chinese children.
    August 18, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12149   open full text
  • Popularity of Indonesian Adolescents: Do the Findings from the USA Generalize to a Muslim Majority Developing Country?
    Doran C. French, Li Niu, Urip Purwono.
    Social Development. July 29, 2015
    This study investigated whether the pattern of behavior associated with popularity in the USA is also found in Indonesia. Participants were 452 7th (13 years) and 10th grade (16 years) Muslim students from West Java, Indonesia. Data were obtained from adolescents, peers, and teachers. Social preference and popularity were positively associated with prosocial behavior and number of mutual friends. Whereas social preference was positively associated with academic achievement and negatively associated with aggression, popularity was positively associated with aggression and tobacco use. These patterns of association are similar to those found in the United States. Indonesian society is highly hierarchical and popularity structures may build upon these stratifications.
    July 29, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12148   open full text
  • Gender Moderates the Progression from Fearful Temperament to Social Withdrawal through Protective Parenting.
    Elizabeth J. Kiel, Julie E. Premo, Kristin A. Buss.
    Social Development. July 24, 2015
    Child gender may exert its influence on development, not as a main effect, but as a moderator among predictors and outcomes. We examined this notion in relations among toddler fearful temperament, maternal protective parenting, maternal accuracy in predicting toddler distress to novelty, and child social withdrawal. In two multi‐method, longitudinal studies of toddlers (24 months at Time 1; Ns = 93 and 117, respectively) and their mothers, few main effect gender differences occurred. Moderation existed in both studies: only for highly accurate mothers of boys, fearful temperament related to protective parenting, which then predicted later social withdrawal. Thus, studying only main‐effect gender differences may obscure important differences in how boys and girls develop from fearful temperament to later social withdrawal.
    July 24, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12145   open full text
  • Trajectories of Breadth of Participation in Organized Activity During Childhood.
    Florence Aumètre, François Poulin.
    Social Development. July 22, 2015
    This study aimed to identify the trajectories of breadth of participation in organized activities during childhood and to examine the predictors of membership in these trajectories (child's individual and family characteristics measured in Kindergarten). A sample of 1038 children, recruited in Kindergarten, was assessed yearly between Kindergarten and grade 4. Semiparametric group‐based modeling brought out four trajectories: the no participation group (13.5 percent), the increasing group (26.4 percent), the decreasing group (14.1 percent), and the high group (46.1 percent). Prosociality predicted membership in the no participation group, as compared with the increasing group. Social withdrawal predicted membership in the no participation group, as compared with the high group. High family income and higher maternal education predicted membership in the increasing, decreasing, and high trajectory groups, as compared with the no participation group. Higher paternal education predicted membership in the high group, as compared with the increasing group. Overall, family variables had a greater impact than individual variables on the probability that the child would participate in a broader range of organized activities.
    July 22, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12142   open full text
  • The Role of Peers and Siblings in Toddlers’ Developing Understanding of Incompatible Desires.
    Nils Schuhmacher, Joscha Kärtner.
    Social Development. July 15, 2015
    According to previous research, social experiences with other children might explain why three‐year‐olds are already quite proficient in understanding desires but not beliefs as subjective mental states. This study investigated toddlers’ (N = 50) developing subjective understanding of incompatible desires around the age of 3 years (M = 35.5 months) and the associated social factors (i.e., family demographics, peer, and sibling variables). Results indicated a developmental sequence from understanding desires to understanding desire‐dependent emotions with an unexpected positivity bias in toddlers’ prediction of own emotions. A hierarchical regression model revealed that specific social factors (i.e., reported quality of peer interactions and day care attendance) individually contributed to explaining the variance in children's desire‐reasoning skills. Findings are interpreted as supporting a belief–desire asymmetry, and specific social experiences, such as positive peer interactions and desire conflicts, may promote toddlers’ understanding of incompatible desires as subjective mental states.
    July 15, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12144   open full text
  • Rejection Reactivity, Executive Function Skills, and Social Adjustment Problems of Inattentive and Hyperactive Kindergarteners.
    Mojdeh Motamedi, Karen Bierman, Cynthia L. Huang‐Pollock.
    Social Development. July 14, 2015
    This study examined emotional reactivity to rejection and executive function (EF) skills as potential mediators of the social behavior problems of inattentive and hyperactive kindergarteners. Participants included 171 children, including 107 with clinical levels of ADHD symptoms, 23 with sub‐clinical levels of ADHD symptoms, and 41 typically developing children (63 percent male; 73 percent Caucasian, 11 percent African‐American, 4 percent Latino/Hispanic, 1 percent Asian, and 11 percent multiracial; Mage = 5.2 years). Inattention (but not hyperactivity) was uniquely associated with poor EF, social withdrawal, and aggression. In structural equation models, EF skills mediated the associations between inattention and both aggression and social withdrawal. Hyperactivity (but not inattention) was uniquely associated with rejection reactivity and each contributed uniquely to aggression. Findings suggest that difficulties with emotion regulation may warrant more attention in early interventions planned for children with high levels of ADHD symptoms.
    July 14, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12143   open full text
  • Sex Differences in Preadolescents’ Attachment Strategies: Products of Harsh Environments or of Gender Identity?
    Rachel E. Pauletti, Patrick J. Cooper, Christopher D. Aults, Ernest V. E. Hodges, David G. Perry.
    Social Development. July 07, 2015
    We evaluated two hypotheses proposed to account for sex differences in preadolescents’ insecure attachment strategies (more avoidant for boys, more preoccupied for girls). The first hypothesis, rooted in life history theory, is that the sex differences develop among children who experience adverse environmental conditions (e.g., harsh parenting). The second hypothesis, grounded in gender self‐socialization theory, is that the sex differences develop among children who identify confidently with their gender collective. Data from an ethnically/racially diverse sample (443 girls, 420 boys; M age = 11.1 years) supported the second hypothesis: Sex differences were evident mainly among children who felt gender‐typical, were content with their gender, or felt pressure to avoid cross‐sex behavior. Further, sex differences were generally smaller rather than larger among children experiencing adverse environments.
    July 07, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12140   open full text
  • Development and Psychometric Properties of the Classroom Peer Context Questionnaire.
    Henrike J. Boor‐Klip, Eliane Segers, Marloes M. H. G. Hendrickx, Antonius H. N. Cillessen.
    Social Development. July 07, 2015
    Children's view on the peer context in their classroom may differ from that of other informants, but no measure systematically examines children's own view. Therefore, we developed the Classroom Peer Context Questionnaire (CPCQ) and evaluated its reliability, validity, and stability in two studies. In Study 1, 464 children (Mage = 10.8 years, 53.2% girls) from 18 Grade 5 classrooms participated in 2 waves of data collection. In Study 2, 1538 children (Mage = 10.6 years, 47.2% girls) from 59 Grade 5 classrooms participated in 3 waves of data collection. Exploratory factor analyses in Study 1 revealed 5 dimensions labeled comfort, cooperation, conflict, cohesion, and isolation. Confirmatory factor analyses in Study 2 supported these 5 dimensions. Study 2 also demonstrated good reliability, validity, and stability for each dimension. Researchers and professionals in schools may use the CPCQ to obtain reliable and quick information on how children perceive the peer context in their classroom.
    July 07, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12137   open full text
  • Effortful Control Mediates Relations Between Children's Attachment Security and their Regard for Rules of Conduct.
    J. K. Nordling, Lea J. Boldt, Jessica O'Bleness, Grazyna Kochanska.
    Social Development. July 07, 2015
    Although attachment security has been associated with children's rule‐compatible conduct, the mechanism through which attachment influences early regard for rules is not well established. We hypothesized that effortful control would mediate the link between security and indicators of children's emerging regard for rules (discomfort following rule violations, internalization of parents’ and experimenter's rules, few externalizing behaviors). In a longitudinal study, the Attachment Q‐Set was completed by parents, effortful control was observed, and Regard for Rules was observed and rated by parents. The proposed model fit the data well: Children's security to mothers predicted their effortful control, which in turn had a direct link to a greater Regard for Rules. Children's security with fathers did not predict effortful control. The mother‐child relationship appears particularly important for positive developmental cascades of self‐regulation and socialization.
    July 07, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12139   open full text
  • Equal But Not Always Fair: Value‐laden Sharing in Preschool‐aged Children.
    Nadia Chernyak, David M. Sobel.
    Social Development. June 24, 2015
    Prior work has shown that preschoolers divide resources fairly and expect others to do the same. The majority of research, however, has focused on how children make distributions with respect to number. Here we explore whether preschoolers attend to the value of the objects being shared. We presented four‐year‐olds and five‐year‐olds with two puppets and four stickers of different values to split between them. Our central question was whether children would share more valuable stickers with their preferred puppets. In Experiments 1–2, value was induced by making one sticker rarer than the others. In Experiments 3–4, value was measured subjectively (by asking the child which sticker s/he personally preferred). Across all experiments, children made fair numerical splits, but showed favoritism according to value. This work supports the hypothesis that young children coordinate number and value to show both fairness and favoritism when making resource distributions.
    June 24, 2015   doi: 10.1111/sode.12136   open full text
  • Effects of Person‐ and Process‐focused Feedback on Prosocial Behavior in Middle Childhood.
    Julie C. Dunsmore.
    Social Development. June 02, 2014
    The effects of person‐ and process‐focused feedback, parental lay theories, and prosocial self‐concept on children's prosocial behavior were investigated with 143 9‐ and 10‐year‐old children who participated in a single session. Parents reported entity (person‐focused) and incremental (process‐focused) beliefs related to prosocial behavior. Children completed measures of prosocial self‐concept, then participated in a virtual online chat with child actors who asked for help with service projects. After completing the chat, children could assist with the service projects. In the first cohort, children were randomly assigned to receive person‐focused, process‐focused, or control feedback about sympathy. In the second cohort, with newly recruited families, children received no feedback. When given process‐focused feedback, children spent less time helping and worked on fewer service projects. When given no feedback, children spent less time helping when parents held incremental (process‐focused) beliefs. Children with higher prosocial self‐concept who received no feedback worked on more service projects.
    June 02, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12082   open full text
  • Emotion Knowledge, Loneliness, Negative Social Experiences, and Internalizing Symptoms Among Low‐income Preschoolers.
    Justin E. Heinze, Alison L. Miller, Ronald Seifer, Susan Dickstein, Robin Locke.
    Social Development. May 26, 2014
    Children with poor emotion knowledge (EK) skills are at risk for externalizing problems; less is known about early internalizing behavior. We examined multiple facets of EK and social‐emotional experiences relevant for internalizing difficulties, including loneliness, victimization, and peer rejection, in Head Start preschoolers (N = 134; M = 60 months). Results based on multiple informants suggest that facets of EK are differentially related to negative social‐emotional experiences and internalizing behavior and that sex plays a moderating role. Behavioral EK was associated with self‐reported loneliness, victimization/rejection, and parent‐reported internalizing symptoms. Emotion recognition and expressive EK were related to self‐reported loneliness, and emotion situation knowledge was related to parent‐reported internalizing symptoms and negative peer nominations. Sex moderated many of these associations, suggesting that EK may operate differently for girls vs. boys in the preschool social context. Results are discussed with regard to the role of EK for social development and intervention implications.
    May 26, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12083   open full text
  • Emotion Talk and Friend Responses Among Early Adolescent Same‐sex Friend Dyads.
    John‐Paul Legerski, Bridget K. Biggs, Andrea Follmer Greenhoot, Marilyn L. Sampilo.
    Social Development. April 28, 2014
    To better understand early adolescent emotion talk within close same‐sex friendships, this observational study examined emotion talk, as measured by emotion term use, in relation to friend supportive and dismissive responses to such terms among 116 adolescents (58 friend dyads) in Grades 7–8 (56.9% female, M = 13.08, SD = .61). Partial intra‐class correlation coefficients derived by using actor partner interdependence models revealed similarities in the frequency of dyad mates use of positive and negative emotions terms. Chi‐square analyses indicated that when friends responded to participants' emotion talk supportively, rather than dismissively, participants were more likely to disclose emotions in subsequent utterances. Research and clinical implications for early adolescent emotional development are discussed.
    April 28, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12079   open full text
  • Children's Observed Interactions With Best Friends: Associations With Friendship Jealousy and Satisfaction.
    Marike H. F. Deutz, Tessa A. M. Lansu, Antonius H. N. Cillessen.
    Social Development. April 28, 2014
    This study examined the role of friendship jealousy and satisfaction in nine‐year‐old children's observed interactions with their best friends. One hundred five dyads (51 female, 54 male) participated in a 30‐min closed‐field observational setting and reported their jealousy and satisfaction within the friendship. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model was used to estimate the effects of friendship jealousy and satisfaction on children's own and their friends' behavior. Friends were highly similar in observed behavior and friendship characteristics. Many observed dyadic behaviors were associated with overall levels of jealousy within the friendship, but differences in friendship satisfaction were only predictive of conflict resolution in boys. Children's reports of their friendship jealousy were strongly related to their own behavior in the dyad and the behavior of their best friends. Gender differences were discussed. The results further illustrate the importance of a dyadic perspective on friendship interaction.
    April 28, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12080   open full text
  • Body Image and Body Change Strategies Within Friendship Dyads and Groups: Implications for Adolescent Appearance‐based Rejection Sensitivity.
    Haley J. Webb, Melanie J. Zimmer‐Gembeck.
    Social Development. April 28, 2014
    Appearance‐based rejection sensitivity (appearance‐RS) consists of concerns about, and expectations of, rejection because of one's appearance (Park). This study examined dyadic‐ and group‐level friendship characteristics as correlates of early adolescents' appearance‐RS. Using subgroups of an initial sample of 380 participants, appearance‐RS was examined within best friend relationships (N = 132, Mage = 13.84) and friendship groups (N = 186, Mage = 13.83). Overall, best friends were similar in their appearance‐RS, body dissatisfaction, restrictive dieting, appearance‐conditional self‐worth, appearance values, and self‐rated attractiveness. Similarities between individuals and their friendship groups were consistent with the findings for dyads, except for self‐rated attractiveness and dieting. Appearance‐RS was higher in adolescents whose best friends and friendship groups reported greater restrictive dieting and appearance‐conditional self‐worth. In general, associations did not differ for boys and girls, but having a higher proportion of boys in the friendship group was associated with lowered appearance concerns.
    April 28, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12081   open full text
  • Imaginary Companions and Young Children's Coping and Competence.
    Tracy R. Gleason, Maria Kalpidou.
    Social Development. April 20, 2014
    Imaginary companions (ICs) are purported to bolster children's coping and self‐competence, but few studies address this claim. We expected that having/not having ICs would distinguish children's coping strategies and competence less than type of companion (i.e., personified object or invisible friend) or quality of child–IC relationship (i.e., egalitarian or hierarchical). We interviewed 72 three‐ to six‐year‐olds and their mothers about children's coping strategies and competence; teachers rated competence. Mothers reported ICs. IC presence and type did not differentiate coping strategies, but children with egalitarian relationships chose more constructive/prosocial coping strategies, and teachers rated them more socially competent than children with hierarchical child–IC relationships. Mothers related ICs to cognitive competence. Findings highlight (1) modest relations between imaginary relationships and coping/competence; (2) distinctions between mothers' perceptions and IC functions; and (3) that ICs parallel real relationships in that different dimensions (presence, type/identity, and relationship quality) might be unique contributors to children's socioemotional development.
    April 20, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12078   open full text
  • Dashed Hopes, Dashed Selves? A Sociometer Perspective on Self‐esteem Change Across the Transition to Secondary School.
    Astrid M. G. Poorthuis, Sander Thomaes, Marcel A. G. Aken, Jaap J. A. Denissen, Bram Orobio de Castro.
    Social Development. March 04, 2014
    The transition from primary to secondary school challenges children's psychological well‐being. A cross‐transitional longitudinal study (N = 306; mean age = 12.2 years) examined why some children's self‐esteem decreases across the transition whereas other children's self‐esteem does not. Children's expected social acceptance in secondary school was measured before the transition; their actually perceived social acceptance was measured after the transition. Self‐esteem and Big Five personality traits were measured both pre‐ and posttransition. Self‐esteem changed as a function of the discrepancy between children's expected and actually perceived social acceptance. Furthermore, neuroticism magnified self‐esteem decreases when children's ‘hopes were dashed'—when they experienced disappointing levels of social acceptance. These findings provide longitudinal support for sociometer theory across the critical transition to secondary school.
    March 04, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12075   open full text
  • Early and Middle Adolescents' Reasoning About Moral and Personal Concerns in Opposite‐sex Interactions.
    Leigh A. Shaw, Cecilia Wainryb, Judith Smetana.
    Social Development. March 04, 2014
    This study examined how adolescents coordinate personal and moral concerns in reasoning about opposite‐sex interactions. Sixty‐four early and middle adolescents (Ms = 12.74, 16.05 years) were individually interviewed about two hypothetical situations involving opposite‐sex interactions (commenting on appearance, initiating a date), presented in four conditions that varied the salience of personal vs. moral concerns. Overall, participants viewed opposite‐sex interactions as harmless and acceptable in personal conditions, but as moral concerns became more salient, they were viewed more negatively, as less contingent on the target's response, and as entailing humiliation, coercion, and victimization. Age differences occurred primarily in reasoning about conditions entailing mixed‐personal and moral concerns. Implications for adolescents' understanding of harassment and victimization are discussed.
    March 04, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12076   open full text
  • Ethnic Helping and Group Identity: A Study among Majority Group Children.
    Jellie Sierksma, Jochem Thijs, Maykel Verkuyten.
    Social Development. March 04, 2014
    Two vignette studies were conducted on children's evaluations of ethnic helping. In the first study, 272 native Dutch children (mean age = 10.7) evaluated a child who refused to help in an intra‐group context (Dutch–Dutch or Turkish–Turkish) or inter‐group context (Dutch–Turkish or Turkish–Dutch). Children evaluated not helping in intra‐group situations more negatively than not helping in inter‐group situations. This suggests that they applied a general moral norm of group loyalty that states that children should help peers of their own group. In the second study, 830 children (mean age = 10.7) read the same vignettes after their ethnic group membership was made salient. In the inter‐group contexts, children who strongly identified with their ethnic group evaluated an out‐group member not helping an in‐group member more negatively than vice versa. Thus, when ethnic identity was salient, children tended to focus more on group identity rather than on the principle of group loyalty.
    March 04, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12077   open full text
  • Early Maternal Depression and Social Skills in Adolescence: A Marginal Structural Modeling Approach.
    Laura M. DeRose, Mariya Shiyko, Simone Levey, Jonathan Helm, Paul D. Hastings.
    Social Development. February 10, 2014
    Early maternal depression is a risk factor that may have adverse effects on adolescent social skills. Although evidence indicates links between early maternal depression and social outcomes during early childhood, whether an association extends to adolescence needs further examination. We tested the possible long‐term association between early maternal depression and adolescent social skills using a national secondary dataset. A secondary objective was to test if maternal parenting at the transition to adolescence mediated the association, with the notion that adverse outcomes of early maternal depression could be ameliorated by positive parenting practices at an important developmental transition. Data were obtained from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Marginal structural modeling within the context of structural equation modeling revealed a significant association between early maternal depression and adolescent social skills while controlling for maternal depression during pre‐adolescence and adolescence. Maternal parenting skills partially mediated the association between early maternal depression and mother report of adolescent social skills. These findings have important implications for understanding the link between early maternal depression and adolescent social skills, and for informing parenting practices during pre‐adolescence.
    February 10, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12073   open full text
  • Predicting Children's Prosocial and Co‐operative Behavior from Their Temperamental Profiles: A Person‐centered Approach.
    Deborah Laible, Gustavo Carlo, Tia Murphy, Mairin Augustine, Scott Roesch.
    Social Development. January 05, 2014
    The goal of this study was to examine how aspects of self‐regulation and negative emotionality predicted children's co‐operative and prosocial behavior concurrently and longitudinally using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Mothers completed measures of children's temperamental proneness to negative emotionality and self‐regulation at 54 months. Teachers and parents completed measures of children's co‐operative and prosocial behavior at 54 months, first grade, and third grade. A latent profile analysis of the temperamental variables revealed four profiles of children: those high in regulation and low in negative emotionality, those moderate in regulation and moderate in negative emotionality, those low in regulation and high in negative emotionality, and finally those who were very low in regulation but high in anger emotionality. Generally, children with profiles that were high or moderate in terms of regulation and low or moderate in terms of negative emotionality were rated as the most prosocial and co‐operative. Children with profiles that were less well regulated and who were high in negative emotionality (particularly anger proneness) were rated as less co‐operative and prosocial by parents and teachers.
    January 05, 2014   doi: 10.1111/sode.12072   open full text
  • Proactive Parenting and Children's Effortful Control: Mediating Role of Language and Indirect Intervention Effects.
    Hyein Chang, Daniel S. Shaw, Thomas J. Dishion, Frances Gardner, Melvin N. Wilson.
    Social Development. December 27, 2013
    We examined associations of proactive parenting, child verbal ability, and child effortful control within the context of a randomized prevention trial focused on enhancing parenting practices in low‐income families. Participants (N = 731) were assessed annually from the age of two to five, with half randomly assigned to the Family Check‐Up (FCU). Results indicated that the child's verbal ability at the age of three partially mediated the influence of proactive parenting at the age of two on children's effortful control at the age of five. More importantly, the FCU indirectly facilitated children's effortful control by sequentially improving proactive parenting and children's verbal ability. The findings are discussed with respect to taking a more integrative approach to understanding early predictors and the promotion of self‐regulation in early childhood.
    December 27, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12069   open full text
  • Associations of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems with Facial Expression Recognition in Preschoolers: The Generation R Study.
    Eszter Székely, Henning Tiemeier, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, Albert Hofman, Frank C. Verhulst, Catherine M. Herba.
    Social Development. December 27, 2013
    Altered patterns of facial expression recognition (FER) have been linked to internalizing and externalizing problems in school children and adolescents. In a large sample of preschoolers (N = 727), we explored concurrent and prospective associations between internalizing/externalizing problems and FER. Internalizing/externalizing problems were rated by parents at 18 and 36 months using the Child Behavior Checklist. FER was assessed at 36 months using age‐appropriate computer tasks of emotion matching and emotion labeling. Internalizing problems were associated with emotion‐specific differences at both ages: at 18 months they predicted more accurate labeling of sadness; at 36 months they were associated with less accurate labeling of happiness and anger. Externalizing problems at both ages were associated with general FER deficits, particularly for matching emotions. Findings suggest that in preschoolers, internalizing problems contribute to emotion‐specific differences in FER, while externalizing problems are associated with more general FER deficits. Knowledge of the specific FER patterns associated with internalizing/externalizing problems can be proven useful in the refinement of emotion‐centered preventive interventions.
    December 27, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12070   open full text
  • Parenting Mediates the Effects of Income and Cumulative Risk on the Development of Effortful Control.
    Liliana J. Lengua, Cara Kiff, Lyndsey Moran, Maureen Zalewski, Stephanie Thompson, Rebecca Cortes, Erika Ruberry.
    Social Development. December 27, 2013
    This study tested the hypothesis that the effects of income and cumulative risk on the development of effortful control during preschool would be mediated by parenting. The study utilized a community sample of 306 children (36–40 months) representing the full range of family income, with 29 percent at or near poverty and 28 percent lower income. Two dimensions of effortful control (executive control and delay ability) were assessed at four time points, each separated by nine months, and growth trajectories were examined. Maternal warmth, negativity, limit setting, scaffolding, and responsiveness were observed. Above the effects of child cognitive ability, income, and cumulative risk, scaffolding predicted higher initial levels of executive control that remained higher across the study, and limit setting predicted greater gains in executive control. Parenting did not predict changes in delay ability. Significant indirect effects indicated that scaffolding mediated the effects of income and cumulative risk on growth in executive control. The findings suggest that parenting behaviors can promote effortful control in young children and could be targets of prevention programs in low‐income families.
    December 27, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12071   open full text
  • Socially Anxious Children at Risk for Victimization: The Role of Personality.
    Saskia F. Mulder, Marcel A. G. Aken.
    Social Development. November 27, 2013
    This study examines whether Big Five personality traits affect the extent to which a socially anxious child will be victimized. A total of 1814 children participated in the study (mean age = 11.99 years). Children completed self‐reports and peer reports of victimization, which were aggregated, and self‐reports of social anxiety and Big Five personality traits. A regression analysis was performed to study the moderating effect of personality traits on the relation between social anxiety and victimization. Socially anxious children scoring high on extraversion are less at risk for victimization than socially anxious children scoring low on extraversion. In addition, socially anxious boys scoring high on agreeableness were less at risk for victimization than socially anxious boys scoring low on agreeableness. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience did not moderate the relation between social anxiety and victimization.
    November 27, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12068   open full text
  • Reminiscing Style During Conversations About Emotion‐laden Events and Effects of Attachment Security Among Italian Mother–Child Dyads.
    Gabrielle Coppola, Silvia Ponzetti, Brian E. Vaughn.
    Social Development. November 17, 2013
    Previous research has established that mothers' and children's elaborative/evaluative styles during conversations about emotion‐laden events are associated with a range of social‐cognitive accomplishments, and this has prompted researchers to identify factors that predict stylistic differences in conversation styles. The study explored whether patterns and variations in reminiscing styles reported in other cultures would be observed in an Italian sample (N = 40 dyads). Attachment security, assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview for mothers and the Q‐Sort for children, were tested as possible sources of variation in conversation style. The two reminiscing styles identified through a clustering procedure were consistent with those displayed by dyads from other cultural groups; moreover, these were significantly related to both mothers' and children's attachment security. These results extend knowledge on reminiscing conversations during early childhood to a different cultural context and contribute to an understanding of how individual differences in attachment affect partners' participation in such conversations.
    November 17, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12066   open full text
  • Prospective Relations Between Adolescents' Social‐emotional Competencies and Their Friendships.
    Maria Salisch, Janice Zeman, Nadine Luepschen, Rimma Kanevski.
    Social Development. October 28, 2013
    Little is known about what factors predict the formation of reciprocal same‐sex friendships during early adolescence. To examine whether social‐emotional competencies aid in establishing and maintaining these friendships at the beginning and end of seventh grade, 380 German youth (mean age = 12.6 years; 49 percent boys; 100 percent White) reported on their peer support networks and on three broad categories of social‐emotional competencies (i.e., non‐constructive anger regulation, constructive anger regulation, emotional awareness, and expression disclosure). Regression analyses indicated the number of reciprocal friendships at Time 2 (T2) was predicted by adolescents' constructive anger regulation through redirection of attention, and social support when angry at the friend, even after controlling for Time 1 number of friends and peer acceptance. Among girls, willingness to self‐disclose marginally predicted their number of reciprocal friends at T2. Results are discussed in terms of the specific social‐emotional competencies that facilitate involvement in reciprocal friendships.
    October 28, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12064   open full text
  • A Mixed Methods Examination of Adolescents' Reports of the Values Emphasized in Their Families.
    Laura Wray‐Lake, Constance A. Flanagan, Celina M. Benavides, Jennifer Shubert.
    Social Development. October 21, 2013
    Building on value socialization and personal values theories, this study examined adolescents' open‐ended reports of the values their families emphasize. Based on open‐ended reports of an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of adolescents, we described adolescent‐reported familial values using qualitative and cluster analysis techniques. Adolescents' open‐ended responses about the values held by their families were coded using a prominent circumplex value model, and values largely, but not completely, aligned with this model. Using person‐oriented cluster analysis on the coded data, seven distinct value clusters were identified that captured various sets of values that adolescents hear from families. Several demographic differences emerged among the clusters, and mean differences by familial value cluster were found for adolescents' close‐ended reports of values of helping others and religiosity. Results suggest that adolescents are able to articulate values emphasized in their families in ways that fit a universal structure of values; these values are related in meaningful ways to the values that they themselves want to live by.
    October 21, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12065   open full text
  • Tuning in to Teens: Improving Parent Emotion Socialization to Reduce Youth Internalizing Difficulties.
    Christiane E. Kehoe, Sophie S. Havighurst, Ann E. Harley.
    Social Development. October 15, 2013
    Research in child development suggests that parents' emotional competence and emotion socialization practices are related to children's emotional functioning, including child internalizing difficulties. This research has not yet been translated into intervention or prevention programs targeting parents of older children and adolescents. The current study examined the efficacy of the Tuning in to Teens parenting program in improving emotion socialization practices in parents of preadolescents and reducing youth internalizing difficulties. Schools were randomized into intervention and control conditions. Data were collected from 225 parents and 224 youth during the young person's final year of elementary school (sixth grade) and again 10 months later in their first year of secondary school (seventh grade). Multilevel analyses showed significant improvements in parental emotion socialization and reductions in youth internalizing difficulties for the intervention condition. This study provides support for the efficacy of the TINT parenting program with a community sample.
    October 15, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12060   open full text
  • Mother–infant Interaction Quality and Infants' Ability to Encode Actions as Goal‐directed.
    Maria Licata, Markus Paulus, Claudia Thoermer, Susanne Kristen, Amanda L. Woodward, Beate Sodian.
    Social Development. October 15, 2013
    The current study investigated the relationship between mother–child interaction quality and infants' ability to interpret actions as goal‐directed at 7 months in a sample of 37 dyads. Interaction quality was assessed in a free play interaction using two distinct methods: one assessed the overall affective quality (emotional availability), and one focused on the mother's proclivity to treat her infant as an intentional agent (mind‐mindedness). Furthermore, infants' ability to interpret human actions as goal‐directed was assessed. Analyses revealed that only maternal emotional availability, and not maternal mind‐mindedness, was related to infants' goal‐encoding ability. This link remained stable even when controlling for child temperament, working memory, and maternal education. These findings provide first evidence that emotionally available caregiving promotes social‐cognitive development in preverbal infants.
    October 15, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12057   open full text
  • Approach and Positive Affect in Toddlerhood Predict Early Childhood Behavior Problems.
    Jessica M. Dollar, Kristin A. Buss.
    Social Development. October 15, 2013
    The aim of the study was to examine the moderating role of positive affect on the relation between approach behaviors and adjustment outcomes. One hundred eleven toddlers participated in a laboratory assessment of approach and positive affect at 24 months. Behavior problems were reported by a parent in the fall of the child's kindergarten year. Results supported our hypotheses that children who displayed high approach and high positive affect in both non‐threat and low‐threat contexts were rated as higher in externalizing behavior problems. On the other hand, for children showing low positive affect, increases in approach in a moderate‐threat context lowered the risk of developing internalizing behavior problems. Implications for these findings are discussed, including methodological considerations of differences among eliciting contexts and advantages of separating positive affect and approach.
    October 15, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12062   open full text
  • Reciprocal Peer Dislike and Psychosocial Adjustment in Childhood.
    Lucy R. Betts, James Stiller.
    Social Development. October 15, 2013
    Reciprocal peer dislike was examined as a predictor of school adjustment and social relationship quality. One hundred and fifty‐one [69 male and 74 female, mean (M)age = 9.53, standard deviation (SD)age = .63 years] children completed measures of school liking, loneliness, and friendship quality twice over three months. From ratings of the amount of time participants liked to spend with individual classmates, social network analyses were used to determine reciprocal peer dislike. Curvilinear regression analyses revealed that reciprocal peer dislike at Time 1 predicted changes in the children's loneliness and friendship quality assessed as help, security, and closeness over three months. The findings support the conclusion that reciprocal peer dislike predicts aspects of school adjustment and social relationship qualities.
    October 15, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12063   open full text
  • Perceived Autonomy Support From Parents and Best Friends: Longitudinal Associations with Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms.
    Daniёlle Van der Giessen, Susan Branje, Wim Meeus.
    Social Development. October 15, 2013
    According to the self‐determination theory, experiencing autonomy support in close relationships is thought to promote adolescents' well‐being. Perceptions of autonomy support from parents and from best friends have been associated with lower levels of adolescents' depressive symptoms. This longitudinal study examines the relative contribution of perceived autonomy support from parents and best friends in relation to adolescents' depressive symptoms and changes in these associations from early to late adolescence. Age and gender differences were also investigated. Questionnaires about mother, father, and a best friend were filled out by 923 early adolescents and 390 middle adolescents during five consecutive years, thereby covering an age range from 12 to 20. Multi‐group cross‐lagged path analysis revealed concurrent and longitudinal negative associations between perceived parental autonomy support and adolescents' depressive symptoms. No concurrent and longitudinal associations were found between perceived best friends' autonomy support and adolescents' depressive symptoms. Results were similar for early and middle adolescent boys and girls. Prevention and treatment programs should focus on the bidirectional interplay during adolescence between perceptions of parental autonomy support and adolescents' depressive symptoms.
    October 15, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12061   open full text
  • Differing Domains of Actual Sibling Conflict Discussions and Associations with Conflict Styles and Relationship Quality.
    Nicole Campione‐Barr, Kelly Bassett Greer, Kayla Schwab, Anna Kruse.
    Social Development. September 23, 2013
    Four types of sibling conflict were identified in actual adolescent sibling discussions: equality and fairness, invasion of the personal domain, intrinsic harm, and relationships. Older [M = 14.97, standard deviation (SD) = 1.69 years] and younger siblings (M = 12.20, SD = 1.90 years) from 144 dyads discussed conflicts during a semi‐structured conflict task. Trained observers coded the topics discussed, and separate observers rated their conflict styles, whereas siblings rated their relationship quality. The proportion of conflicts of each domain differed by dyadic gender composition. Equality and fairness conflicts (and invasion of the personal domain conflicts for sister–sister pairs) were discussed the most frequently whereas intrinsic harm conflicts were associated with destructive conflict styles. Siblings' discussions of conflicts involving intrinsic harm were associated with older siblings' reports of negative relationship quality. The associations between these conflict topics and negative relationship quality were mediated by the siblings discussing the conflicts in destructive ways.
    September 23, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12059   open full text
  • Toddler Inhibitory Control, Bold Response to Novelty, and Positive Affect Predict Externalizing Symptoms in Kindergarten.
    Kristin A. Buss, Elizabeth J. Kiel, Santiago Morales, Emily Robinson.
    Social Development. September 11, 2013
    Poor inhibitory control and bold approach have been found to predict the development of externalizing behavior problems in young children. Less research has examined how positive affect may influence the development of externalizing behavior in the context of low inhibitory control and high approach. We used a multi‐method approach to examine how observed toddler inhibitory control, bold approach, and positive affect predicted externalizing outcomes (observed, adult‐, and self‐reported) in additive and interactive ways at the beginning of kindergarten. Children who were 24‐month‐olds (N = 110) participated in a laboratory visit and 84 were followed up in kindergarten for externalizing behaviors. Overall, children who were low in inhibitory control, high in bold approach, and low in positive affect at 24 months of age were at greater risk for externalizing behaviors during kindergarten.
    September 11, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12058   open full text
  • Can Psychosocial Intervention Improve Peer and Sibling Relations Among War‐affected Children? Impact and Mediating Analyses in a Randomized Controlled Trial.
    Marwan Diab, Raija‐Leena Punamäki, Esa Palosaari, Samir R. Qouta.
    Social Development. August 08, 2013
    Social resources are considered important protectors in traumatic conditions, but few studies have analyzed their role in psychosocial interventions among war‐affected children. We examined (1) whether a psychosocial intervention (teaching recovery techniques, TRT) is effective in improving peer and sibling relations, and (2) whether these potentially improved relations mediate the intervention's impacts on children's mental health. Participants were 428 Palestinian children [10–13 (mean = 11.29, standard deviation SD = .68)‐year‐old girls (49.4 percent) and boys (50.6 percent)], who were cluster‐randomized into the TRT and wait‐list control groups. They reported the quality of peer (friendship and loneliness) and sibling (intimacy, warmth, conflict, and rivalry) relations, and posttraumatic stress, depressive and psychological distress symptoms, as well as psychosocial well‐being at baseline (T1), postintervention (T2), and six month follow‐up (T3). Results showed gender‐specific TRT intervention effects: Loneliness in peer relations reduced among boys and sibling rivalry reduced among girls. The TRT prevented the increase in sibling conflict that happened in the control group. The mediating hypothesis was partially substantiated for improved peer relations, and beneficial changes in sibling relations were generally associated with improved mental health.
    August 08, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12052   open full text
  • Associations Between Behavioral Inhibition and Children's Social Problem‐solving Behavior During Social Exclusion.
    Olga L. Walker, Heather A. Henderson, Kathryn A. Degnan, Elizabeth C. Penela, Nathan A. Fox.
    Social Development. August 08, 2013
    The current study examined the associations between the early childhood temperament of behavioral inhibition and children's displays of social problem‐solving (SPS) behavior during social exclusion. During toddlerhood (the ages of two to three), maternal report and behavioral observations of behavioral inhibition were collected. At the age of seven, children's SPS behaviors were observed during a laboratory social exclusion task based on the commonly used Cyberball game. Results showed that behavioral inhibition was positively associated with displayed social withdrawal and negatively associated with assertive behavior during the observed social exclusion task at seven years of age. These results add to our understanding of inhibited children's SPS behaviors during social exclusion and provide evidence for the associations between toddler temperament and children's social behavior during middle childhood.
    August 08, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12053   open full text
  • Understanding Popularity and Relational Aggression in Adolescence: The Role of Social Dominance Orientation.
    Lara Mayeux.
    Social Development. August 08, 2013
    This study investigated a potential moderator of the association between popularity and relational aggression: social dominance orientation (SDO), the degree to which an individual endorses the importance of social hierarchy. One hundred eighty‐five ninth graders completed a sociometric assessment of RA and popularity, and a self‐report SDO measure. SDO was positively associated with popularity for both boys and girls, and with RA for girls. Popularity and RA were positively correlated for both genders. Regression analyses showed that SDO moderated the association between popularity and RA for girls, but not for boys. Girls who were both popular and who were social dominance‐oriented were particularly high in peer‐nominated RA. SDO may provide a useful framework for understanding the role of popularity in adolescent peer groups.
    August 08, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12054   open full text
  • Translating Social Motivation Into Action: Contributions of Need for Approval to Children's Social Engagement.
    Karen D. Rudolph, Lauren E. Bohn.
    Social Development. August 05, 2013
    This research examined how children's need for approval (NFA) from peers predicted social behavior (prosocial behavior, aggression, and social helplessness) and peer responses (acceptance, victimization, exclusion). Children (N = 526, mean age = 7.95, standard deviation = .33) reported on NFA and teachers reported on social engagement. Approach NFA (motivation to gain approval) predicted more positive engagement and less conflictual engagement and disengagement. Conversely, avoidance NFA (motivation to avoid disapproval) predicted less positive engagement and more conflictual engagement and disengagement. Some results differed by gender. This study suggests that social motivation contributes to children's peer relationships, providing a specific target for interventions to optimize social health.
    August 05, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12050   open full text
  • With Whom and Where You Play: Preschoolers' Social Context Predicts Peer Victimization.
    Naomi C. Z. Andrews, Laura D. Hanish, Richard A. Fabes, Carol Lynn Martin.
    Social Development. August 05, 2013
    This short‐term longitudinal study assessed the relations between the social context of children's play (playgroup size, playgroup gender composition, and play setting) in the fall and peer victimization in the spring for low‐income, minority, preschool girls and boys. Gender differences in these associations, as well as the moderating effect of children's individual problem behavior, were considered. Using a multiple‐brief observation procedure, preschoolers' (N = 255, 49 percent girls) naturally occurring play in each type of social context was recorded throughout the fall semester. Observers also rated children's victimization and problem behaviors in the fall, and teachers rated children's victimization at the end of the school year. Findings suggested that social context variables predicted spring victimization above and beyond fall victimization and individual levels of problem behavior, and that these associations varied for boys and girls. The findings signify the importance of the social context on changes in peer victimization.
    August 05, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12051   open full text
  • Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Head Start Children: Links to Ecologically Valid Behaviors and Internalizing Problems.
    Judith K. Morgan, Carroll E. Izard, Christopher Hyde.
    Social Development. July 30, 2013
    Children's emotional reactivity may interact with their regulatory behaviors to contribute to internalizing problems and social functioning even early in development. Ninety‐one preschool children participated in a longitudinal project examining children's reactivity and regulatory behaviors as predictors of internalizing problems, and positive and negative social behavior in the classroom. Children who paired negative emotion expression with disengagement during a laboratory task showed higher levels of internalizing problems and more negative social behavior in the classroom 6 months later. Positive emotion expression paired with engagement during a laboratory task predicted more positive social behavior in the classroom 6 months later. Physiological reactivity and regulation also predicted children's social behavior in the classroom. Findings suggest that preschool children with maladaptive reactivity and regulatory patterns may be at greater risk for internalizing problems even in early childhood.
    July 30, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12049   open full text
  • Identifying Mother–child Interaction Styles Using a Person‐centered Approach.
    Jackie A. Nelson, Marion O'Brien, Kevin J. Grimm, Esther M. Leerkes.
    Social Development. July 24, 2013
    Parent–child conflict in the context of a supportive relationship has been discussed as a potentially constructive interaction pattern; the current study is the first to test this using a holistic analytic approach. Interaction styles, defined as mother–child conflict in the context of maternal sensitivity, were identified and described with demographic and stress‐related characteristics of families. Longitudinal associations were tested between interaction styles and children's later social competence. Participants included 814 partnered mothers with a first‐grade child. Latent profile analysis identified agreeable, dynamic, and disconnected interaction styles. Mothers' intimacy with a partner, depressive symptoms, and authoritarian childrearing beliefs, along with children's later conflict with a best friend and externalizing problems, were associated with group membership. Notably, the dynamic style, characterized by high sensitivity and high conflict, included families who experienced psychological and relational stressors. Findings are discussed with regard to how family stressors shape parent–child interaction patterns.
    July 24, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12040   open full text
  • Development of Ego‐resiliency: Relations to Observed Parenting and Polymorphisms in the Serotonin Transporter Gene During Early Childhood.
    Zoe E. Taylor, Michael J. Sulik, Nancy Eisenberg, Tracy L. Spinrad, Kassondra M. Silva, Kathryn Lemery‐Chalfant, Daryn A. Stover, Brian C. Verrelli.
    Social Development. July 24, 2013
    We used observed parenting behaviors, along with genetic variants and haplotypes of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4), as predictors of children's ego‐resiliency during early childhood (N = 153). The quality of mothers' parenting was observed at 18 months of age, and mothers' reports of ego‐resiliency were collected at six time points from 18 to 84 months. Genetic data were collected at 72 months. Observed parenting was positively associated with initial levels of children's ego‐resiliency. Furthermore, although individual genetic variants of the serotonin transporter gene (LPR, STin2) were not associated with ego‐resiliency, the S10 haplotype (that combines information from these two variants) was negatively associated with initial levels of ego‐resiliency. Both parenting and serotonin genetic variation uniquely predicted children's ego‐resiliency, suggesting an additive effect of genetic and parental factors.
    July 24, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12041   open full text
  • Maternal Social Coaching Quality Interrupts the Development of Relational Aggression During Early Childhood.
    Nicole E. Werner, Ashley D. Eaton, Kelsey Lyle, Heidi Tseng, Brooke Holst.
    Social Development. July 11, 2013
    Previous research has shown that parents of socially competent young children provide them with elaborative, explicit, appropriate, and emotion‐laden advice about peer interactions. The current study analyzed mothers' conversations with preschoolers (N = 175; 52 percent female; M age = 52 months, SD = 7 months) about peer conflicts involving relational aggression. Conversations were coded for maternal elaboration, emotion references, and discussion of norm violations. Information about relational and physical aggression was collected from teachers at two assessments approximately 12 months apart for a subsample of 136 children. Regression analyses, controlling for physical aggression, showed that average and high levels of effective coaching operated as a protective factor against stable high levels of relational aggression. Theoretical and practical implications for our understanding of the early development of relational aggression are discussed.
    July 11, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12048   open full text
  • Adolescent Emotion Socialization: A Longitudinal Study of Friends' Responses to Negative Emotions.
    Bonnie Klimes‐Dougan, Theresa E. Pearson, Leah Jappe, Lindsay Mathieson, Melissa R. Simard, Paul Hastings, Carolyn Zahn‐Waxler.
    Social Development. July 05, 2013
    Although peer influences are thought to be critically important to adolescent development, there is a paucity of research investigating the emotion socialization practices that take place between adolescents. This longitudinal study evaluated close friends' responses to negative emotion using a newly developed assessment tool of peer emotion socialization, you and your friends. Adolescent participants (N = 205) exhibiting a range of internalizing and externalizing problems between 11 and 17 years of age were assessed and re‐evaluated two years later. Participants were asked to rate the frequency with which their friends responded to them by encouraging, distracting, matching, ignoring, overtly victimizing, and/or relationally victimizing their emotions. The results indicated high levels of internal consistency and moderate levels of long‐term stability. Close friends most often responded supportively to the participants' emotional displays, but these responses differed by gender. Also, friends' emotion socialization responses were concurrently and predictively associated with participant problem status. This study contributes to a better understanding of the processes by which adolescents' emotions are socialized by their friends and has important implications for future prevention and intervention efforts.
    July 05, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12045   open full text
  • Social Self‐Control, Externalizing Behavior, and Peer Liking Among Children with ADHD‐CT: A Mediation Model.
    Paul J. Rosen, Aaron J. Vaughn, Jeffery N. Epstein, Betsy Hoza, L. Eugene Arnold, Lily Hechtman, Brooke S. G. Molina, James M. Swanson.
    Social Development. July 05, 2013
    This study investigated the role of externalizing behavior as a mediator of the relation between social self‐control and peer liking among children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder‐combined type (ADHD‐CT). A model was proposed whereby externalizing behavior would fully statistically account for the direct relation of social self‐control to peer liking. One hundred seventy‐two children ages 7.0–9.9 years with ADHD‐CT were rated by their teachers regarding their social self‐control and by their parents and teachers regarding their rates of externalizing behavior. Same‐sex classmates provided ratings of overall liking. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the proposed model. Results supported the proposed model of externalizing behavior as fully statistically accounting for the relation of social self‐control to peer liking. This study demonstrated the crucial role that externalizing behaviors play in the social impairment commonly seen among children with ADHD‐CT.
    July 05, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12046   open full text
  • When Is It Okay to Exclude a Member of the Ingroup? Children's and Adolescents’ Social Reasoning.
    Aline Hitti, Kelly Lynn Mulvey, Adam Rutland, Dominic Abrams, Melanie Killen.
    Social Development. July 05, 2013
    Social exclusion of those who challenge group norms was investigated by asking children and adolescents, adolescents, age 9–13 years (N = 381), to evaluate exclusion of group members who deviated from group norms. Testing predictions from social reasoning developmental theories of group‐based exclusion, children and adolescents evaluated exclusion based on group norms involving allocation of resources and group traditions about dress code. Exclusion of deviant members was viewed as increasingly wrong with age, but also varied by the type of norm the deviant challenged. Participants who reported disliking a deviant member who wanted to distribute money unequally also found it acceptable to exclude them. Those who disliked deviants who went against norms about dress codes did not think exclusion was warranted. These findings are discussed in the context of children's social‐cognitive development regarding peer rejection as well as the role played by moral judgment and group dynamics.
    July 05, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12047   open full text
  • Constructive and Destructive Marital Conflict, Parenting, and Children's School and Social Adjustment.
    Kathleen P. McCoy, Melissa R. W. George, E. Mark Cummings, Patrick T. Davies.
    Social Development. June 26, 2013
    This study addresses the links between destructive and constructive marital conflict and mothers' and fathers' parenting to understand associations with children's social and school adjustment. Multi‐method, longitudinal assessments of 235 mothers, fathers, and children (129 girls) were collected across kindergarten, first, and second grades (ages 5–7 at time 1; ages 7–9 at time 3). Whereas constructive marital conflict was related to both mothers' and fathers' warm parenting, destructive marital conflict was only linked to fathers' use of inconsistent discipline. In turn, both mothers' and fathers' use of psychological control was related to children's school adjustment, and mothers' warmth was related to children's social adjustment. Reciprocal links between constructs were also explored, supporting associations between destructive marital conflict and mothers' and fathers' inconsistent discipline. The merit of examining marital conflict and parenting as multidimensional constructs is discussed in relation to understanding the processes and pathways within families that affect children's functioning.
    June 26, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12015   open full text
  • Unsociability and Shyness in Chinese Children: Concurrent and Predictive Relations with Indices of Adjustment.
    Junsheng Liu, Robert J. Coplan, Xinyin Chen, Dan Li, Xuechen Ding, Ying Zhou.
    Social Development. June 26, 2013
    The primary goal of this study was to examine the short‐term longitudinal associations between unsociability, shyness, and indices of adjustment among Chinese children. Participants were 787 children (ages 10–14 years) in an urban area in China. Assessments of unsociability, shyness, and adjustment were obtained from multiple sources, including peer nominations, self‐reports, and school records. Results indicated that while controlling for the effects of shyness, unsociability was associated with socioemotional and school difficulties. In particular, unsociability appeared to act as a risk factor for later peer problems and internalizing difficulties across the school year. Some gender differences were also observed in the longitudinal associations between unsociability and indices of adjustment. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of unsociability in Chinese culture.
    June 26, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12034   open full text
  • Jealousy in Firstborn Toddlers within the Context of the Primary Family Triad.
    Nóra Szabó, Judith Semon Dubas, Marcel A. G. Aken.
    Social Development. June 26, 2013
    Childhood jealousy has typically been examined in a limited number of jealousy‐evoking contexts and mainly with the mother only, thus providing a narrow view on the manifestations of jealousy. The aim of the present article is to examine childhood jealousy within parent–child dyads and (mother–father–child) triads and across multiple contexts. The sample included 87 Dutch families with a toddler (38 girls, 49 boys, Mage: 23 months). Children were challenged in several jealousy‐evoking situations using social and non‐social objects as rivals during videotaped family play sessions. Children's jealous behavior (e.g., negativity, distraction) and jealous emotions (e.g., anger) were coded. We found the most jealous behavior in contexts including a doll as a rival and the least in the non‐social object conditions. Children showed more jealous behavior toward mothers than fathers. Children showed elevated levels of anger in most jealousy situations.
    June 26, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12039   open full text
  • Relations Among Gender Typicality, Peer Relations, and Mental Health During Early Adolescence.
    Jennifer A. Jewell, Christia Spears Brown.
    Social Development. June 26, 2013
    The current study examines whether being high in gender typicality is associated with popularity, whether being low in gender typicality is associated with rejection/teasing, and whether teasing due to low gender typicality mediates the association with negative mental health. Middle school children (34 boys and 50 girls) described hypothetical popular and rejected/teased peers, and completed self‐report measures about their own gender typicality, experiences with gender‐based teasing, depressive symptoms, anxiety, self‐esteem, and body image. Participants also completed measures about their peers' gender typicality, popularity, and likeability. Results indicated that popular youth were described as more gender typical than rejected/teased youth. Further, being typical for one's gender significantly predicted being rated as popular by peers, and this relationship was moderated by gender. Finally, low gender typicality predicted more negative mental health outcomes for boys. These relationships were, at times, mediated by experiences with gender‐based teasing, suggesting that negative mental health outcomes may be a result of the social repercussions of being low in gender typicality rather than a direct result of low typicality.
    June 26, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12042   open full text
  • Dyadic Analyses of Preschool‐aged Children's Friendships: Convergence and Differences between Friendship Classifications From Peer Sociometric Data and Teacher's Reports.
    Nana Shin, Mina Kim, Stephanie Goetz, Brian E. Vaughn.
    Social Development. June 26, 2013
    Peer sociometrics and teachers' friendship reports were compared in 2179 preschool dyads. One hundred twenty of 306 reciprocated friend dyads from peer sociometric data were also identified as good friends by their classroom teachers, and 301 of 600 of non‐reciprocated dyads in peer data were named as friends by one or both classroom teachers (overall kappa = .16). Friendship classifications from both peer and teacher data had significant relations with variables relevant to peer interactions, social skills, peer acceptance, and teacher‐rated scales (six of seven tests significant for peer data; five of eight significant for teacher data). Multilevel analyses indicated that friendship status effects were not qualified by classroom‐level differences. Findings suggest that sociometric tasks can identify preschoolers' peer friendships and that the range of correlates may be broader in peer‐choice data than in teachers' friendship evaluations.
    June 26, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12043   open full text
  • What Do You Think? The Relationship between Person Reference and Communication About the Mind in Toddlers.
    Gabriela Markova, Filip Smolík.
    Social Development. June 26, 2013
    The present studies examined the relationship between children's use of grammatical structures indicating self–other differentiation (i.e., personal pronouns, verb conjugation) and their ability to use language to express their own and others' mental states (MSL). In Study 1, 104 parents of two‐ to three‐year‐old children filled out online checklists assessing children's vocabulary, their use of MSL, and first‐ and second‐person pronouns and verb forms. In Study 2, 77 mothers of 1.5‐ to 2.5‐year‐old children filled out the MacArthur–Bates communicative development inventory, and additional checklists for MSL and verb conjugation. Results of both studies showed that children's use of grammatical person reference is strongly related to their level of grammatical abilities. Importantly, pronominal and inflectional references to others were correlated with children's discourse about the mind. Thus, linguistic tools that are used to distinguish self from others are not only indicators of children's grammatical development, but also their level of sociocognitive understanding.
    June 26, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12044   open full text
  • Adjusting for Group Size Effects in Peer Nomination Data.
    Ana María Velásquez, William M. Bukowski, Lina María Saldarriaga.
    Social Development. June 20, 2013
    Adjusting nomination‐based sociometric and peer assessment scores for biases due to variations in group size has been a long‐standing concern for peer relations researchers. The techniques that have been typically used to make these adjustments (e.g., proportion and standardized scores) are known to have fundamental problems that limit their utility. This study introduces a regression‐based procedure that adjusts nomination‐based scores for variations in group size and compares it with the standardization and proportion procedures. Analyses were conducted on sociometric and peer assessment scores of 1594 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from 63 classrooms. The advantages of the regression‐based procedure over standardization and proportion transformations are outlined. Implications for the accuracy and validity of nomination‐based measures and the research findings based on them are discussed.
    June 20, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12029   open full text
  • Inter‐parent Aggression as a Precursor to Disengagement Coping in Emerging Adulthood: The Buffering Role of Friendship Competence.
    Casey L. Brown, Barbara A. Oudekerk, David E. Szwedo, Joseph P. Allen.
    Social Development. June 04, 2013
    Using multi‐informant data drawn from a prospective study involving 184 youth, mother‐perpetrated and father‐perpetrated partner aggression during early adolescence (the age of 13) was examined as a predictor of five types of disengagement coping strategies in emerging adulthood (the age of 21): behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement, denial, substance use, and restraint. The ability to develop close friendships, or friendship competence, was examined as a moderator of these links. Results suggest that inter‐parent aggression in early adolescence can predict reliance on disengagement coping 8 years later, but that friendship competence can buffer against the reliance on disengagement coping. Moreover, close friendship competence was not directly related to partner aggression by mothers or fathers, suggesting that friendship competence develops along an independent developmental track and thus may truly serve as a buffer for young adults with a history of exposure to inter‐parent aggression.
    June 04, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12026   open full text
  • Personal Identity Processes from Adolescence Through the Late 20s: Age Trends, Functionality, and Depressive Symptoms.
    Koen Luyckx, Theo A. Klimstra, Bart Duriez, Stijn Van Petegem, Wim Beyers.
    Social Development. June 04, 2013
    Personal identity formation constitutes a crucial developmental task during the teens and 20s. Using a recently developed five‐dimensional identity model, this cross‐sectional study (N = 5834) investigated age trends from ages 14 to 30 for different commitment and exploration processes. As expected, results indicated that, despite some fluctuations over time, commitment processes tended to increase in a linear fashion. Exploration in breadth and exploration in depth were characterized by quadratic trends, with the highest levels occurring in emerging adulthood. Further, the functionality of these identity processes, and especially of exploration, changed over time. Exploration in breadth and exploration in depth were strongly related to commitment processes especially in adolescence and emerging adulthood, but these exploration processes became increasingly associated with ruminative exploration and depressive symptoms in the late 20s. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are outlined.
    June 04, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12027   open full text
  • Parent and Peer Restrictions of Opportunities Attenuate the Link between Low Self‐control and Antisocial Behavior.
    Emily S. Kuhn, Robert D. Laird.
    Social Development. June 04, 2013
    Focusing on parents and peers as restrictors of opportunities, this study tested whether restricted opportunities attenuate the link between low self‐control and antisocial behavior as hypothesized by the General Theory of Crime. Early adolescents (N = 180, M age = 12.04 years, 49.4 percent female, 49 percent European American, 45 percent African American) reported their levels of self‐control, antisocial peer involvement, unsupervised time, parental solicitation, family rules, and involvement in antisocial behavior. Low levels of antisocial peer involvement and high levels of parental supervision, solicitation, and family rules were conceptualized as restricted opportunities for antisocial behavior. Opportunity restrictions attenuated the association between low self‐control and antisocial behavior such that low self‐control was less strongly associated with antisocial behavior when youth experienced less antisocial peer involvement, less unsupervised time, more parental solicitation, and more family rules than when youth experienced more antisocial peer involvement, more unsupervised time, less parental solicitation, and fewer family rules. Results clarify and extend our understanding of the role of restricted opportunities for low self‐control youth in the General Theory of Crime.
    June 04, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12028   open full text
  • Latino Adolescents' Community Violence Exposure: After‐school Activities and Familismo as Risk and Protective Factors.
    Traci M. Kennedy, Rosario Ceballo.
    Social Development. June 04, 2013
    Low‐income, urban adolescents are exposed to extremely high rates of witnessing and being victimized by community violence. Such violence exposure presents serious implications for youth's development and psychological well‐being. In a sample of 223 ninth‐grade Latino adolescents, we examine: (1) what types of after‐school activity participation increase or reduce adolescents' risk for violence exposure and (2) the role of the cultural value of familismo in moderating the impact of violence exposure on adolescents' psychological well‐being. Our results indicate that spending unstructured leisure time with peers and participating in non‐school sports and non‐school clubs were associated with higher levels of community violence exposure, whereas adhering to the cultural value of familismo was associated with lower levels of violence exposure. Additionally, familismo moderated the positive association between violence exposure and depressive symptoms, but not posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Implications of these results are discussed.
    June 04, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12030   open full text
  • Developmental Trajectories of Sympathy, Moral Emotion Attributions, and Moral Reasoning: The Role of Parental Support.
    Tina Malti, Nancy Eisenberg, Hyunji Kim, Marlis Buchmann.
    Social Development. June 03, 2013
    We examined the role of parental support to children's sympathy, moral emotion attribution, and moral reasoning trajectories in a three‐wave longitudinal study of Swiss children at 6 years of age (N = 175; Time 1), 7 years of age (Time 2), and 9 years of age (Time 3). Sympathy was assessed with self‐report measures. Moral emotion attributions and moral reasoning were measured with children's responses to hypothetical moral transgressions. Parental support was assessed at all assessment points with primary caregiver and child reports. Three trajectory classes of sympathy were identified: high‐stable, average‐increasing, and low‐stable. Moral emotion attributions exhibited high‐stable, increasing, and decreasing trajectories. Moral reasoning displayed high‐stable, increasing, and low‐stable trajectories. Children who were in the high‐stable sympathy group had higher self‐reported support than children in the increasing and low‐stable trajectory groups. Children who were in the high‐stable moral emotion attribution group or the high‐stable moral reasoning group had higher primary caregiver‐reported support than children in the corresponding increasing trajectory groups. Furthermore, children who were members of the high‐stable group in all three moral development variables (i.e., sympathy, moral emotion attribution, and moral reasoning) displayed higher levels of self‐reported parental support than children who were not.
    June 03, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12031   open full text
  • Do Peers Contribute to the Achievement Gap between Vietnamese‐American and Mexican‐American Adolescents?
    Mylien T. Duong, David Schwartz, Carolyn A. McCarty.
    Social Development. June 03, 2013
    Documented associations between academic and social functioning have been inconsistent. These discrepancies may reflect the moderating role of sociocultural context. In this study, we examined ethnicity and gender as moderators of this relation. We collected peer nominations, GPA from school records, and self‐report questionnaires for 519 Vietnamese‐American and Mexican‐American middle school students (mean age = 12.7 years). Using general linear modeling, we found that academic and social functioning were more strongly and positively linked for Vietnamese‐Americans relative to Mexican‐Americans, and for girls relative to boys. We also examined group differences in achievement values, and found that Vietnamese‐Americans were more likely to admire and be friends with high‐achieving peers. The results suggest that peers provide one context in which ethnic and gender differences in achievement values emerge, and interventions aimed at reducing the achievement gap may benefit from incorporating a focus on peers.
    June 03, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12033   open full text
  • Black‐White Biracial Children's Social Development from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade: Links with Racial Identification, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status.
    Annamaria Csizmadia, Jean M. Ispa.
    Social Development. June 03, 2013
    In this study, we investigated trajectories of Black‐White biracial children's social development during middle childhood, their associations with parents’ racial identification of children, and the moderating effects of child gender and family socioeconomic status (SES). The study utilized data from parent and teacher reports on 293 US Black‐White biracial children enrolled in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS‐K). Growth curve models suggested increasing trajectories of teacher‐reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors between kindergarten and fifth grade. Parents’ racial identification of children predicted child externalizing behavior trajectories such that teachers rated biracially identified children's externalizing behaviors lower relative to those of Black‐ and White‐identified children. Additionally, for White‐identified biracial children, the effect of family SES on internalizing behavior trajectories was especially pronounced. These findings suggest that in the USA, how parents racially identify their Black‐White biracial children early on has important implications for children's problem behaviors throughout the elementary school years.
    June 03, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12037   open full text
  • How Mood and Task Complexity Affect Children's Recognition of Others' Emotions.
    Andrew J. Cummings, Jennifer L. Rennels.
    Social Development. June 03, 2013
    Previous studies examined how mood affects children's accuracy in matching emotional expressions and labels (label‐based tasks). This study was the first to assess how induced mood (positive, neutral, or negative) influenced five‐ to eight‐year‐olds' accuracy and reaction time using both context‐based tasks, which required inferring a character's emotion from a vignette, and label‐based tasks. Both tasks required choosing one of four facial expressions to respond. Children responded more accurately to label‐based questions relative to context‐based questions at the age of five to seven, but showed no differences at the age of eight, and when the emotional expression being identified was happiness, sadness, or surprise, but not disgust. For the context‐based questions, children were more accurate at inferring sad and disgusted emotions compared with happy and surprised emotions. Induced positive mood facilitated five‐year‐olds' processing (decreased reaction time) in both tasks compared with induced negative and neutral moods. Results demonstrate how task type and children's mood influence children's emotion processing at different ages.
    June 03, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12038   open full text
  • Experiencing Loneliness in Adolescence: A Matter of Individual Characteristics, Negative Peer Experiences, or Both?
    Janne Vanhalst, Koen Luyckx, Luc Goossens.
    Social Development. April 01, 2013
    The present study builds on the child‐by‐environment model and examines the joint contribution of intra‐individual characteristics (i.e., self‐esteem and shyness) and peer experiences (i.e., social acceptance, victimization, friendship quantity, and friendship quality) in the association with loneliness. A total of 884 adolescents (Mage = 15.80; 68 percent female) participated in this multi‐informant study. Results indicated that, in addition to self‐esteem and shyness, being poorly accepted by peers, being victimized, lacking friends, and experiencing poor‐quality friendships each contributed independently to the experience of loneliness. Further, friendship quantity and quality mediated the relation between the two intra‐individual characteristics and loneliness. Finally, a significant interaction was found between self‐esteem and social acceptance in predicting loneliness. The present study highlights the importance of investigating the joint effects of inter‐individual experiences and intra‐individual characteristics in examining loneliness. Suggestions to elaborate the child‐by‐environment model in loneliness research are discussed, and clinical implications are outlined.
    April 01, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12019   open full text
  • Nested or Networked? Future Directions for Ecological Systems Theory.
    Jennifer Watling Neal, Zachary P. Neal.
    Social Development. March 11, 2013
    Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory (EST) is among the most widely adopted theoretical frameworks for studying individuals in ecological contexts. In its traditional formulation, different levels of ecological systems are viewed as nested within one another. In this article, we use Simmel's notion of intersecting social circles and Bronfenbrenner's earlier writing on social networks to develop an alternative ‘networked’ model that instead views ecological systems as an overlapping arrangement of structures, each directly or indirectly connected to the others by the direct and indirect social interactions of their participants. We redefine each of the systems discussed by EST—micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono—based on patterns of social interaction, and then illustrate how this alternative model might be applied in the classic context of the developing child. We conclude by discussing future directions for how the networked model of EST can be applied as a conceptual framework, arguing that this approach offers developmental researchers with a more precise and flexible way to think about ecological contexts. We also offer some initial suggestions for moving a networked EST model from theory to method.
    March 11, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12018   open full text
  • Power in Sibling Conflict during Early and Middle Childhood.
    Shireen Abuhatoum, Nina Howe.
    Social Development. March 11, 2013
    Sources of power children use in sibling conflict during early and middle childhood were examined according to French and Raven's typology of power. Participants included 66 dyads with an older (M = 81.8 months, SD = 14.48 months) and younger (M = 56.2 months, SD = 13.03 months) sibling. Data based upon naturalistic observations were coded for conflict issues (object, procedure, and information), power types (coercive, information, and legitimate), power effectiveness (attempts and successes), and resolutions (win/lose and compromise). Siblings used coercive power in object issues and information power in procedural issues. Whereas younger siblings used legitimate power in procedural and object issues including win/lose and compromise outcomes, older siblings used coercive power in win/lose resolutions. Siblings did not differ in their effectiveness of power, but they were most effective when coercive power was employed. Findings are discussed in light of power theory and the development of conflict management skills.
    March 11, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12021   open full text
  • Patterns of Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Young Adolescents in Singapore.
    Joyce S. Pang, Rebecca P. Ang, Dennis M. Y. Kom, Ser Hong Tan, Aaron Q. M. Chiang.
    Social Development. March 11, 2013
    The authors investigated the patterns of reactive and proactive aggression exhibited by young male (N = 604) and female (N = 544) adolescents in Singapore. Self‐report measures of reactive and proactive aggression, behavioral and emotional adjustment, parenting styles, and delinquency were administered to students aged 13–14. Using cluster analysis, three distinct patterns of aggression emerged: a low aggressive group, a combined aggressive group with high reactive and proactive aggression, and a reactively aggressive group with low proactive and high reactive aggression. The two aggressive groups showed similar disturbances in adjustment and delinquency, but the combined group showed the greatest disruptions. Findings indicate cross‐cultural stability of patterns of aggression as well as the usefulness of the reactive/proactive distinction in early identification of individuals with adjustment problems.
    March 11, 2013   doi: 10.1111/sode.12024   open full text
  • Relations between Temperament and Anger Regulation over Early Childhood.
    Patricia Z. Tan, Laura Marie Armstrong, Pamela M. Cole.
    Social Development. December 19, 2012
    Theory suggests temperamental reactivity [negative affectivity (NA)] and regulation [effortful control (EC)] predict variation in the development of emotion regulation (ER). However, few studies report such relations, particularly studies utilizing observational measures of children's ER behaviors in longitudinal designs. Using multilevel modeling, the present study tested whether (1) between‐person differences in mean levels of mother‐reported child NA and EC (aggregated across age) and (2) within‐person changes in NA and EC from the ages of 18 to 42 months predicted subsequent improvements in laboratory‐based observations of children's anger regulation from the ages of 24 to 48 months. As expected, mean level of EC (aggregated across age) predicted longer latency to anger; however, no other temperament variables predicted anger expression. Mean level of EC also predicted the latency to a child's use of one regulatory strategy, distraction. Finally, decreases in NA were associated with age‐related changes in how long children used distractions and how quickly they bid calmly to their mother. Implications for relations between temperament and anger regulation are discussed in terms of both conceptual and methodological issues.
    December 19, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00674.x   open full text
  • European‐American and African‐American Mothers' Emotion Socialization Practices Relate Differently to Their Children's Academic and Social‐emotional Competence.
    Jackie A. Nelson, Esther M. Leerkes, Nicole B. Perry, Marion O'Brien, Susan D. Calkins, Stuart Marcovitch.
    Social Development. October 12, 2012
    The current study examines whether the relation between mothers' responses to their children's negative emotions and teachers' reports of children's academic performance and social‐emotional competence are similar or different for European‐American and African‐American families. Two hundred mothers (137 European‐American, 63 African‐American) reported on their responses to their five‐year‐old children's negative emotions and 150 kindergarten teachers reported on these children's current academic standing and skillfulness with peers. Problem‐focused responses to children's negative emotions, which have traditionally been considered a supportive response, were positively associated with children's school competence for European‐American children, but expressive encouragement, another response considered supportive, was negatively associated with children's competence for African‐American children. The findings highlight the need to examine parental socialization practices from a culturally specific lens.
    October 12, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00673.x   open full text
  • Peer Acceptance and Friendships of Students with Disabilities in General Education: The Role of Child, Peer, and Classroom Variables.
    Anke Boer, Sip Jan Pijl, Wendy Post, Alexander Minnaert.
    Social Development. October 12, 2012
    To understand the difficulties students with disabilities experience in their social participation in general education, this study examined which child, peer, and class variables relate to peer acceptance and friendships. In a cross‐sectional study, sociometric data were gathered for students without disabilities (N = 985) and students with disabilities (N = 65), together with personal related variables of students with disabilities, attitudes of peers towards students with disabilities, and classroom information. Using separate social networks for both boys and girls, the findings of the logistic multilevel regression analyses showed different outcomes for peer acceptance of boys and girls with disabilities. The implications of the findings are discussed in the light of possible interventions to improve peer acceptance and friendships of students with disabilities in general primary education.
    October 12, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00670.x   open full text
  • The Role of Social Identity Complexity in Inter‐group Attitudes Among Young Adolescents.
    Casey A. Knifsend, Jaana Juvonen.
    Social Development. September 26, 2012
    To supplement research on adolescent social identities, the current study examined how social identity complexity relates to ethnic inter‐group attitudes in a young adolescent sample (N = 97; age range = 12–14 years). Social identity complexity refers to the perceived overlap of groups with which youth align themselves. Descriptive analyses revealed that the most prevalent social groups were based on out‐of‐school sports and in‐school extracurricular activities. On average, participants reported a moderate degree of overlap among their social in‐groups. Results of regression analyses showed that high social identity complexity relates to positive inter‐group attitudes, both cross‐sectionally in seventh grade and longitudinally across eighth grade. These findings suggest that high social identity complexity may have implications for the ways in which school‐based activity groups are structured to promote inter‐group attitudes.
    September 26, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00672.x   open full text
  • Opening the Black Box of Social Cognitive Mapping.
    Zachary P. Neal, Jennifer Watling Neal.
    Social Development. September 26, 2012
    There is no abstract available for this paper.
    September 26, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00668.x   open full text
  • Manufacturing Phenomena or Preserving Phenomena? Core Issues in the Identification of Peer Social Groups With Social Cognitive Mapping Procedures.
    Thomas W. Farmer, Hongling Xie.
    Social Development. September 26, 2012
    There is no abstract available for this paper.
    September 26, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00669.x   open full text
  • Going It Alone: Comparing Subtypes of Withdrawal on Indices of Adjustment and Maladjustment in Emerging Adulthood.
    Larry J. Nelson.
    Social Development. September 26, 2012
    Scholars have distinguished conceptually between multiple forms of social withdrawal among children and adolescents, but this distinction has yet to be investigated fully during emerging adulthood. Therefore, the overarching goal of this study was to employ a person‐oriented approach to examine differences between subtypes of withdrawal on indicators of internalizing issues and relationships in emerging adulthood. The sample for the current study (Mage = 19.60, SD = 1.85, range = 18–29) consisted of 791 undergraduate students (548 women, 243 men). Results revealed that three distinct forms of social withdrawal (shyness, avoidance, unsociable) can be identified in emerging adulthood, with each one uniquely related to indices of maladjustment in regard to internalizing problems and relationship difficulties. In general, both shy and avoidant individuals reported more problems of an internalizing nature and in their relationships. Far fewer problems appear to exist for unsociable individuals.
    September 26, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00671.x   open full text
  • Mothers' Socialization of Children's Emotion in India and the USA: A Cross‐ and Within‐culture Comparison.
    Vaishali V. Raval, Pratiksha H. Raval, Jennifer M. Salvina, Stephanie L. Wilson, Sharon Writer.
    Social Development. September 20, 2012
    Parent responses to children's emotions vary within and across cultures. The present study compared mothers' reports of their emotional and behavioral responses in hypothetical situations depicting their children experiencing anger, sadness, or physical pain in two communities in India (traditional old city, N = 60; suburban middle class, N = 60), with a suburban middle‐class group in the USA (N = 60). Results showed that mothers in both groups in India reported more explanation‐oriented problem‐focused responses to their children's emotions than US mothers. US mothers reported the most solution‐oriented problem‐focused responses, followed by suburban Indian mothers, followed by old‐city mothers. US mothers reported behaviorally‐oriented punitive responses (i.e., time out, removal of privileges) towards child anger more than the other groups. Suburban Indian mothers reported briefly not talking to the child in response to child anger more than the other groups whereas old‐city Indian mothers reported scolding/spanking more than the other groups.
    September 20, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00666.x   open full text
  • The Effects of Participation Rate on the Internal Reliability of Peer Nomination Measures.
    Peter E. L. Marks, Ben Babcock, Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Nicki R. Crick.
    Social Development. July 10, 2012
    Although low participation rates have historically been considered problematic in peer nomination research, some researchers have recently argued that small proportions of participants can, in fact, provide adequate sociometric data. The current study used a classical measurement perspective to investigate the internal reliability (Cronbach's α) of peer nomination measures of acceptance, popularity, friendship, prosocial behavior, and overt aggression. Data from 642 participants attending 10 schools were resampled at different participation rates ranging from 5 percent to 100 percent of the original samples. Results indicated that (1) the association between participation rate and Cronbach's α was curvilinear across schools and variables; (2) collecting more data for a given variable (by using unlimited vs. limited nominations, or two vs. one items) was significantly related to higher internal reliability; and (3) certain variables (overt aggression, popularity) were more reliable than others (acceptance, friendship). Implications for future research were discussed.
    July 10, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00661.x   open full text
  • Quality of Parent–Child Relations in Adolescence and Later Adult Parenting Outcomes.
    Myron D. Friesen, Lianne J. Woodward, L. John Horwood, David M. Fergusson.
    Social Development. April 25, 2012
    Data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 30‐year prospective longitudinal study, were used to examine the associations between the quality of parent–child relations in adolescence and adult parenting behaviour 15 years later. At ages 14 and 15 years, cohort members were interviewed about the quality of their relationship with their parents. At age 30, those who had become parents underwent a parenting assessment using self‐report and observational ratings of positive (warmth, sensitivity) and negative parenting (overreactive, inconsistency, and physical punishment/abuse). Results showed that adolescents who reported higher quality parent–child relationships were later characterized by higher levels of parental warmth, sensitivity, and effective child management, and lower levels of overreactive parenting. These associations remained after extensive covariate adjustment. Study findings highlight the importance of close parent–child relations during adolescence in preparing an individual for the challenges of caring for and parenting their own children when they themselves become parents.
    April 25, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00657.x   open full text
  • The Multiple Meanings of Peer Groups in Social Cognitive Mapping.
    Jennifer Watling Neal, Zachary P. Neal.
    Social Development. March 21, 2012
    Social cognitive mapping (SCM) is a common approach to identifying peer groups in developmental research. However, this approach involves three stages that each implies a unique conception of peer group. This article aims to bring conceptual clarity to the identification of peer groups using SCM by demonstrating how the meaning of peer groups differs at each stage of SCM. First, in the data collecting stage, interaction groups identify sets of children that hang out together. Second, in the data aggregating stage, co‐membership groups identify sets of children who are members of many of the same interaction groups. Third, in the data analyzing stage, similarity groups identify sets of children with similar patterns of relationships with their peers. After reviewing these three conceptions of peer groups, we briefly discuss some potential problems with using SCM as a tool to measure children's social networks and peer groups. Finally, we conclude by arguing that despite these issues, SCM remains a valuable methodology, and indeed one with untapped potential. Thus, we offer suggestions for the appropriate application of these theoretically and empirically distinct conceptions of peer group, noting that developmental researchers using SCM must identify which conception of peer group is used and justify why this conception is the appropriate one.
    March 21, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00656.x   open full text
  • Gender‐specific or Common Classroom Norms? Examining the Contextual Moderators of the Risk for Victimization.
    Jenny Isaacs, Marinus Voeten, Christina Salmivalli.
    Social Development. March 21, 2012
    We tested whether gender‐specific vs. common classroom norms were more powerful moderators of the association between a risk factor (rejection) and peer victimization among girls and boys. The participants were 1220 elementary schoolchildren from grades 4–6 (with 10–13 years of age). We compared different multilevel models including combined vs. separate regressions for boys and girls, as well as the effects of norms of the whole class, same‐sex classmates, and cross‐sex classmates. Among girls, the association between rejection and victimization was strongest in classes where bullying behavior was common, and anti‐bullying attitudes were rare among girls. Among boys, the strength of the slope of victimization on rejection could not be explained by either common or gender‐specific classroom norms, but boys' level of bullying behavior was related to overall classroom level of victimization. The findings suggest that contextual factors may contribute to victimization especially among high‐risk girls. The importance of exploring multiple levels of influence on children's social development is discussed.
    March 21, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2012.00655.x   open full text
  • College Students' Revenge Goals Across Friend, Romantic Partner, and Roommate Contexts: The Role of Interpretations and Emotions.
    Kristina L. McDonald, Steven R. Asher.
    Social Development. March 13, 2012
    Residential college environments provide young people with distinctive relationship opportunities and challenges. A major purpose of the present study was to learn whether college students respond differently to conflict‐of‐interest vignettes in three different relationship contexts. Students were more likely to make negative interpretations about their romantic partner's behavior than they did about their friend's or roommate's behavior. They were also more likely to feel angry and hurt and to endorse hostile goals and strategies with romantic partners. A second major purpose was to learn about the types of interpretations and emotions associated with revenge goals in conflict‐of‐interest situations. Results indicated that interpreting the other person's actions as disrespectful and as rejecting was related to revenge goals and also predicted to revenge goals beyond the contributions of anger and hurt feelings.
    March 13, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2011.00650.x   open full text
  • Parental Emotion Coaching and Child Emotion Regulation as Protective Factors for Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
    Julie C. Dunsmore, Jordan A. Booker, Thomas H. Ollendick.
    Social Development. February 15, 2012
    We assessed linkages of mothers' emotion coaching and children's emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity with children's adjustment in 72 mother–child dyads seeking treatment for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Dyads completed the questionnaires and discussed emotion‐related family events. Maternal emotion coaching was associated with children's emotion regulation, which in turn was related to higher mother‐reported adaptive skills, higher child‐reported internalizing symptoms, and lower child‐reported adjustment. When children were high in emotion lability/negativity, mothers' emotion coaching was associated with lower mother and child reports of externalizing behavior. Results suggest the role of emotion regulation and emotion lability in child awareness of socio‐emotional problems and support the potential of maternal emotion coaching as a protective factor for children with ODD, especially for those high in emotion lability.
    February 15, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2011.00652.x   open full text