bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Friendship and Dominance Status on Preschooler's Resource Utilization in a Cooperative/Competitive Situation
Authors: La Freniere Peter J. , Charlesworth William R.
Published: March 2013

Field and laboratory methods were used to investigate the influence of dominance and friendship on behaviour in a cooperative/competitive problem-solving situation among preschool peers. Ten groups of four children each (two girls, two boys) were formed from three different preschool classes. Each group was placed in a room containing a toy movie viewer (a resource) that required the assistance of two children in order for one child to view the movie. DQminant children were able to gain access to the viewer and use the resource more than lower-ranked classmates, particularly during the first half of the session. Dominance rank, however, did not predict resource utilisation between same-sex friends. High status groups of friends used the resource more effectively and more equitably than groups composed predominantly of low ranking children or non-friends. Friendship relations rather than affiliative behaviour in the situation were associated with high resource utilisation. A mixture of quasi-agonistic and opportunistic behaviours led to high resource utilisation; agonistic behaviours were infrequent and unrelated to resource utilisation.
Lifespan Differences in Adult Thinking about Hypothetical and Personal Moral Issues: Reflection or Regression?
Authors: Pratt Michael W. , Golding Gail , Kerig Patricia
Published: March 2013

Recent work on aging and moral judgment has investigated the claim that older adults may show a regression in their average stage level of moral judgment, compared with younger groups. A second line of work has suggested that at least some elderly adults may be more reflective in their thinking regarding moral and ethical issues (e.g. Kohlberg, 1973).

The present research was designed to investigate these issues with respect to hypothetical and real-life moral judgment. Subjects were 60 adults in three age groups: 18-24 years, 30-45 years, and 60-75 years. Each responded to the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview and to the personal moral dilemma task of Gilligan. Measures of stage level and of reported use of perspectivetaking processes, as well as analyses of the content of personal dilemmas, were obtained.

Results showed no average stage level differences between the age or sex groups. Hypothetical stage scores were significantly higher than real-life scores overall. There were no age differences in reported role-taking processes on hypothetical dilemmas, though there were sex differences, with men more likely to report adopting a third-party, observer role. Finally, older subjects produced significantly more varied reflections on their personal dilemmas.
The Priority of Description in Developmental Psychology
Authors: Sugarman Susan
Published: March 2013

The central argument of the paper is that serious descriptive work needs to be done in developmental psychology. Insofar as the most basic agenda of the discipline is to describe the child's mind and how it changes, then there are significant ways in which neither Piaget nor many of his successors have carried out this agenda. Piaget aimed to carry it out, but instead imposed an adult grid on the children's behaviour and introduced other arbitrary assumptions about how they think. Contemporary research seems, on the other hand, to address the next stage of analysis. It seeks to establish when specific pregiven competencies really do first appear and through what mechanisms they might develop.

Alternative guidelines for research are proposed that, although not replacements for existing practices, aim more directly at identifying essential constituent features of the child's mental reality. These guidelines are organised around the observation and analysis of developmental change, an emphasis absent from much of contemporary work, although present in Piaget. By contrast with Piaget (and contemporary research), however, the guidelines build in fewer presuppositions about where development is headed and the categories in terms of which it is to be viewed. These features are, rather, the outcome of investigation.
The Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development: An Adoption Study of Two and Three-year olds
Authors: Thompson L. A. , Plomin Robert
Published: March 2013

The etiology of individual differences in communicative development is explored using data from 226 adoptive and 224 nonadoptive families in the Colorado Adoption Project. Scores from the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development (SICD) (Hedrick, Prather, & Tobin, 1975) in 2-and 3-year-old children are compared to concurrent and longitudinal measures of verbal and general cognitive ability and to verbal and general cognitive ability in their parents. Sibling correlations for the SICD and cross-correlations for the SICD and I.Q. in related and unrelated pairs are also examined. Sibling correlations indicate that performance on the SICD is genetically influenced and that the relationship between the SICD and I.Q. at 2 and 3 years of age is in part genetically mediated. At 2 and 3 years of age, SICD scores are related to parental intelligence and verbal ability and this relationship is partially determined by family environmental factors at both ages. At 3 years of age, the SICD scores of adopted children correlates significantly with their biological mothers' general cognitive ability.
Young Children's Viewer-centred Representations: Drawings of a Cube Placed Inside or Behind a Transparent or Opaque Beaker
Authors: Cox M. V. , Martin A.
Published: March 2013

Previous research has found that young children characteristically draw what they know rather than what they see; they do not routinely draw viewercentred representations. The aim of the first experiment was to investigate the way subjects represent one object totally occluded by another. Although some of the younger children included what they could not see, most subjects aged 5 to 9 years and adults drew only what they could see. There was also a tendency among the younger children to differentiate in their drawings between the inside and the behind relationships in the scene. The second experiment investigated the subjects' interpretation of the main types of picture produced in experiment 1 by asking them to arrange the objects as they would have appeared to the artist. Most subjects matched their view of the objects to that shown in the picture, but the picture did not necessarily elicit the same object arrangement in experiment 2 as the artist in experiment 1 had seen.
Becoming Aware of One's Competence in the Second Year: Developmental Progression within the Mother Child Dyad
Authors: Heckhausen Jutta
Published: March 2013

This article shows that infants become aware of their competence in the second year. It is argued that this progression is: (1) promoted in the interaction with a familiar and motivated adult; (2) is part and parcel of developmental advances in control of action; (3) is expressed in a sequence of behavioural indicators predicted by a task-analysis. Task-centred interactions of 12 mother-infant pairs were observed at bimonthly intervals between the infants' 14th and 22nd month. Control of action was assessed in terms of per-minute rate of task attempts, and number of consecutive attempts in task-action episodes. Behavioural indicators of awareness of one's competence included reactions to successful and unsuccessful outcomes, and seeking and rejecting maternal help.

The findings support the three predictions raised, in that: (1) with the mother-child dyad paradigm employed, pride reactions to success became common as early as at 20 months; (2) developmental gains both in action control and in becoming aware of one's competence occurred across the entire longitudinal span; (3) the findings are consistent with the predicted sequence of different kinds of help-related behaviour and reactions to failure and success.
Preschoolers' Collaborative Construction in Planning and Maintaining Imaginative Play
Authors: Goncu Artin , Kessel Frank
Published: March 2013

Developmental differences in the organisation and complexity of dyadic play were investigated. Based on the views of Bateson and Piaget organisation was defined in terms of verbal initiation, planning, symbolic representation, negotiation and termination of imaginative play. Complexity was defined as a range in which one or more than one dimension of planning and symbolic representation were expressed simultaneously. The sample consisted of 12 41/2-year-olds and 12 3-year-olds. There were six boys and six girls at each age level. The children were videotaped as same-age and same-sex dyads in two 20 minute sessions on consecutive days. The results indicated no age differences in the organisation of play. There were, however, developmental and sex differences in the complexity of play. The 4½-year-olds and girls more than 3-year-olds and boys expressed multiple dimensions of planning and symbolic representation. This finding lends support to the Piagetian notion that play symbols are combined in sequences with increasing age and is discussed in relation to the development of decentration.
Success and Maintenance of Memory Strategies by Preschoolers
Authors: Whittaker S. J.
Published: March 2013

Two studies investigated the maintenance of a memory strategy following training. Maintenance was compared in two groups of preschoolers. The first group was taught the strategy in a situation where it produced large improvements in performance from pretrials to training. These children were more likely to maintain it than those taught the strategy in a situation in which improvements were small. It was concluded that the size of the improvement in memory was a determinant of strategy maintenance, although the second study showed that the size of the improvement did not influence transfer of the strategy to a different task. The implications of this finding are discussed in relation to other intervention studies in memory development, and to young children's ability to monitor their own memory performance.
Children's Beliefs about Control, Means-ends, and Agency: Developmental Differences during Middle Childhood
Authors: Skinner Ellen A. , Chapman Michael , Baltes Paul B.
Published: March 2013

A new action-theoretical conceptualisation was used to study developmental differences in children's generalised perceived control. According to this conceptualisation, controland action-related beliefs are multidimensional and may include not only (1) expectancies about the extent to which an agent (e.g. the self) can obtain desired outcomes (referred to as control beliefs), but also (2) expectancies about the extent to which certain causes or means produce outcomes (means-ends beliefs), as well as (3) expectancies about the extent to which the agent possesses the potential means (agency beliefs). Cross-sectional age differences in these three sets of beliefs were studied in 240 boys and girls from age 7 to 12. The results of age comparisons in mean level indicated that: (1) perceived control of positive events is greater than that of negative events at all ages; (2) the categories of means-ends beliefs (i.e. for the causes effort, attributes, powerful others, luck, unknown) are increasingly differentiated from each other as to their level of perceived effectiveness; (3) agency beliefs for effort, attributes, and powerful others are high across middle childhood. The increase in the perceived accessibility of powerful others is an especially noteworthy finding. Surprisingly few sex differences were found, with the exception that boys rates the cause "attributes" as more effective than girls. The pattern of age differences in control, means-ends, and agency beliefs not only adds to our understanding of the development of generalized expectancies involving control and action across middle childhood, but also holds promise for future research on the origins of these beliefs and on how they influence children's behaviour and action.
The Role of Comparison Activity in the Development of Referential Communication
Authors: Camaioni Luigia , Ercolani Anna Paola
Published: March 2013

The hypothesis that a significant relation exists between referential communication performance and comparison performance was investigated. A pretest-test design was adopted in which two comparison tasks-a "comprehension task" and a "match to sample task"-were selected for the pretest and other two tasks-different versions of the Krauss and Glucksberg referential communication task-were employed for testing children's communicative effectiveness.

One hundred and fifty Italian children ranging in age from 5 years 1 month to 8 years 5 months served as subjects for the pretest. Sixty-four children, equally divided into four groups (young-low, young-high, old-low, oldhigh) on the basis of both age and the comparison performance level achieved in the pretest tests, were tested on the two versions of the Krauss and Glucksberg task. As expected, the results indicated that the ability to compare in non-communicative tasks was significantly related to communication effectiveness in referential tasks. In particular, younger children classified as high on comparison skills consistently exhibited communicative performances similar to those of older children classified as low on comparison skills.
The Determinants of Paternal Involvement in Primiparous Swedish Families
Authors: Lamb Michael E. , Hwang Carl-Philip , Broberg Anders , Bookstein Fred L. , Hult Gunilla , Frodi Majt
Published: March 2013

The mothers and fathers of 138 firstborn Swedish children were interviewed when their children averaged 16 months of age and again 12 months later. Questions focused on demographic characteristics, employment characteristics, division of paid and unpaid parental leave, amount of paternal involvement in the weeks preceding the two assesssment phases, division of parental responsibilities, and the child's parental preferences. Analyses conducted using the Partial Least Squares (soft modelling) technique revealed that fathers were more involved at 28 months when their partners worked more, when the fathers assumed more responsibility for childcare chores, and when the fathers had been more involved 12 months earlier. Paternal involvement at 16 months was likewise determined by maternal and paternal work status, and the amount of maternity and paternity leave taken in the preceding months. The data thus reveal substantial stability over time in the degree of paternal involvement. Fathers were also more involved with daughters. Socioeconomic status (SES) did not significantly predict paternal involvement.
Perceived Childrearing Practices and the Development of Locus of Control in Early Adolescence
Authors: Krampen Gunter
Published: March 2013

The development of three dimensions of locus of control orientation, namely, perceived internal, powerful others, and chance control, was analysed in a sample of 127 adolescents (11-13 years) as well as the relation between such orientations and childrearing practices of their mothers (practices of reinforcement and punishment). At two times (10 months apart) questionnaire data were obtained about (1) locus of control for problem-solving of the child, (2) childrearing practices of the mother, and (3) childrearing practices of the mother as perceived by the child. The cross-sequential results showed that perceived internality increases and chance control (fatalistic externality) decreases in early adolescence, whereas powerful others control orientations show no age-related change. Results of cross-lagged regression and correlation analyses point toward differential relations between childrearing practices and the three aspects of locus of control: (1) parental approval and attention to positive behaviour of the child predicts internality; (2) parental reinforcement which is based on social comparisons of the child's behaviour and achievements predicts powerful others control; (3) disparagement of the child-without attention to the specific behaviour of the child-predicts chance control orientations. The longitudinal results show that findings of cross-sectional and retrospective studies tend to overestimate the developmental significance of parental childrearing practices for locus of control in early adolescence.
Mothers' and Fathers' Interaction with their Young Mentally Handicapped Children
Authors: McConachie Helen
Published: March 2013

Studies of interaction between parents and their young mentally handicapped children generally lack ecological validity, ignore individual differences, and fail to consider the long-term implications of observed patterns. Such limitations may also be seen to apply to current strategies of early intervention. The paper reports a study of 21 young mentally handicapped children and their mothers and fathers, presenting data on daily patterns of child-care and observed teaching interactions. Predictions of differences between mothers and fathers, taken from literature on nonhandicapped and handicapped children, are confirmed. However, taking into consideration that fathers have less time available, parents do not differ as groups on the proportion which they spend in concentrated interaction with the child. Concentrated interaction time of mothers is related to a tendency to dominate observed teaching interactions; however, for fathers it is positively related to sensitivity in interaction. Possible implications of the results for intervention strategies are outlined.
A New Look at Children's Private Speech: The Effects of Age, Task Difficulty, and Parent Presence
Authors: Behrend Douglas A. , Rosengren Karl , Perlmutter Marion
Published: March 2013

The present study re-evaluated several hypotheses concerning the selfregulatory nature of children's private speech. It was hypothesised that if children's private speech is self-regulatory, it should differ systematically as a function of child's age, task difficulty, and the presence of another in a task situation, and it should be positively related to task performance. Twenty-four children at each of three age levels (2, 31/2, and 5 years) were videotaped while working alone and with a parent on different sets of 3 puzzles that varied in difficulty. Children's speech was recorded and coded as private or social. The proportion of total speech coded as private increased slightly with age and was curvilinearly related to puzzle difficulty, with the most private speech observed on moderately difficult puzzles. In addition, private speech was positively related to task performance, especially on medium and difficult tasks. These results are consistent with the view that private speech is self-regulatory. Parental presence had no effect on the percentage of private speech. These results suggest that parents' behaviour during joint problem-solving probably should not be taken to be strictly regulatory.
Prosocial Behaviour in Preschool Children: A Look at the Interaction of Race, Gender, and Family Composition
Authors: Rehberg Heather R. , Richman Charles L.
Published: March 2013

The effects of family variables on prosocial behaviour-helping and/or comforting-of preschool children were assessed by observing their reactions to a peer in a distressful situation. Father-absent males were found to have the highest scores for comforting behaviour. Comforting was related to the mothers' dependency on their children for emotional support. Whereas helping was related to the number of chores children performed. Children from smaller families had higher comforting scores than did those from larger families. Theoretical implications regarding these findings are discussed.
Students' Perceptions of Socialisation and Gender Role in Japan and Germany
Authors: Trommsdorff Gisela , Iwawaki Saburo
Published: March 2013

The present study investigates differences in students' perceptions of socialisation and gender roles in Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany. N = 64 male and 111 female Japanese and N = 61 male and 59 female German students completed paper-and-pencil tests. Group comparisons showed significant differences with respect to perceptions of socialisation and gender-role orientation. Japanese adolescents reported more parental acceptance and control than German adolescents. Japanese mothers were seen as more and German mothers were seen as less controlling than respective fathers whereas at the same time mothers in both countries were seen as more supportive than fathers. Furthermore, Japanese students had more "traditional" gender-role orientations than German adolescents. These results are interpreted on the basis of culture-specific values underlying socialisation and the organisation of interpersonal relations.
Early Infant Temperament and Maternal Expectations Related to Maternal Adaptation
Authors: Hagekull Berit , Bohlin Gunilla
Published: March 2013

The contribution to an explanation of early maternal adaptation by mothers' expectations for child behaviour as compared to their descriptions of infant temperament was investigated within the framework of a goodness of fit model (Lerner & Lerner, 1983). Analyses were made separately for primiparas (n = 45) and multiparas (n = 74). Expectations and temperament were measured for the dimensions of regularity, approach-withdrawal and manageability with questionnaires completed at infant age 6 weeks (expectations) and 4 months (temperament). Data on maternal adaptation (role satisfaction, irritability, stress, and coping) were obtained in interviews shortly after the temperament questionnaire was completed and at infant age 10 months (role satisfaction). The results showed that descriptions of actual temperament were more predictive of adaptational experiences than were mothers' expectations. Infant temperament, especially the dimensions of manageability and regularity, was more important for multiparous mothers than for first-time mothers. The interactive effects predicted from the good-ness of fit model were not found. The results were discussed from the perspective of the different situations prevailing for first-time and multiparous mothers.
Developmental Processes and Stages in the Acquisition of Cardinality
Authors: Bermejo Vicente , Lago Ma Oliva
Published: March 2013

This is a study of the level of children's understanding of cardinality, focusing on the difference between a true cardinality response and the application of a mechanically learned rule. The authors also evaluate and discuss the possible relationship between cardinality and counting. The subjects were two groups of 32 preschool children, ranging in age from 4 years 3 months to 6 years 3 months. Experimental methodology included two large sets of tests (elements-cardinal vs cardinal-elements), using both numbers and vowels with forward vs backward counting, and visual vs verbal presentation conditions. Results show that cardinality responses are affected by both the direction and nature of the elements in the counting sequence. Scrutiny of errors committed in the various tests enables us to suggest six stages in the acquisition of cardinality. Although there appears to be a developmental dependency between counting and cardinality, this relationship is not significant in all cases.
Attachment in Surinam-Dutch Families: A Contribution to the Cross-Cultural Study of Attachment
Authors: van Ijzendoorn Marinus H.
Published: March 2013

A study on attachment in indigenous Dutch families and in families who came to the Netherlands from Surinam-a former Dutch colony in South America is described. Sixty-five mothers and their infants participated, including 26 mothers who had immigrated from Surinam. Attachment behaviours and maternal responsiveness were recorded in the Strange Situation and in free play. The Infant Characteristics Questionnaire, and a questionnaire on child-rearing attitudes were completed. In the Surinam-Dutch group, maternal responsiveness was related to quality of attachment, although the Surinam-Dutch mothers scored significantly lower on the responsiveness scale than the Dutch mothers. The attachment classification distribution of the Surinam-Dutch dyads did not significantly differ from Dutch or global distributions. However, Surinam-Dutch mothers appeared to be more anxious about child-rearing than Dutch mothers. Surinam-Dutch mothers who had recently arrived in Holland tended to show less responsiveness, and were more anxious about child-rearing than Surinam-Dutch mothers who had immigrated several years ago. These data may reflect strains that arise from the transition from one culture to another.
Schematic Knowledge and Memory in Young Children
Authors: Saarnio David A.
Published: March 2013

This research examined the relationship between domain-specific knowledge and memory in 3 and 4-year-old children. Schematic knowledge of a farm and a living room was assessed by asking children to (a) decide what objects belonged in a given scene, and (b) place objects on scenes. Both recall and location memory were assessed for objects in scenes. General memory skills were assessed for recall and location memory using unrelated objects, and general knowledge was measured with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. For location memory, schematic knowledge and memory were unrelated for 3-year-olds but were significantly correlated for 4-year-olds. Recall performance was not reliably predicted by schematic knowledge. Three-year-olds' location memory in scenes, but not 4-year-olds', was predicted by location memory for unrelated objects. Vocabulary scores were related to schematic knowledge, but not scene memory. Domain-specific knowledge was differentially related to memory as a function of age, suggesting that the relative importance of predictors for memory may vary with age. Supplementary analyses indicated that object typicality for scenes did not predict memory, but that the size of objects did predict what objects would be remembered.
REM Dreaming and Cognitive Skills at Ages 5-8: A Cross-sectional Study
Authors: Foulkes David , Hollifield Michael , Sullivan Brenda , Bradley Laura , Terry Rebecca
Published: March 2013

Eighty children, 10 boys and 10 girls at each of four ages (5, 6, 7, and 8), were awakened from REM sleep on 10 occasions over the course of three nights in a sleep laboratory to report dreams. They also completed a variety of cognitive skill tests. In confirmation of an earlier, longitudinal study (Foulkes, 1982): Dreams were reported relatively seldom (median report rate of 20%); until age 7, their imagery was reported as more static than dynamic; until age 8, a passive-observer role for their self character was most common; until age 8, dream activity evidenced very simple forms of narrative structure; waking visuospatial, but not verbal, skills predicted dream-report rates, with Wechsler Block Design the single best such predictor. These replications argue: That reliable dream-laboratory data can be collected from young children; that dream production/experience depends upon representational intelligence; and that children's REM dream reports can be used to study the development of specifically conscious mental processes and representations.
Children's Failure to Make Judgements of Undecidability when they are Ignorant
Authors: Robinson E. J. , Mitchell P.
Published: March 2013

In five investigations we tested 5 to 7-year-olds' ability to make appropriate judgements of "undecidable". Children pointed at the picture they thought might be a named familiar or unfamiliar cartoon character from a set of 5, and were asked if they knew or didn't know their chosen picture was the target. Judgements about familiar targets were accurate, but children often failed to make correct "don't know" judgements ("undecidable") about unfamiliar targets. This was not simply because children felt "don't know" was too negative an expression, given that their chosen picture might have been the target, since varying the wording had little effect: "just think" and "just hope" contrasted with "know"; "hard" contrasted with "easy"; "don't know" contrasted with "is it [target name] or isn't it". Further results showed that children were not simply avoiding loss of face caused by admitting to ignorance, nor were they simply committed to their chosen picture. Finally, asking children if they had ever heard of the target before, increased the likelihood of their subsequently making correct "undecidable" judgements. We discuss why "undecidable" judgements might be difficult for children to make, and why alerting them to lack of past experience via their correct judgements of "never heard of.." was beneficial to their making correct judgements of "undecidable".
Children's Competence and the Agreement and Stability of Self and Child-Descriptions
Authors: van Aken Marcel A. G. , van Lieshout Cornelis F. M.
Published: March 2013

In a longitudinal study CCQ-descriptions of children aged 7 to 12 were given by teachers, mothers, peers, and the child him/herself. The consistency of self-and child-descriptions, over time and over environments, was indicated by consensus (agreement in child-descriptions between pairs of referent persons), mutuality (agreement between a child's self-description and descriptions by referent persons), and stability (consistency of descriptions over a period of time). A longitudinal model was tested in which the consistency of self-and child-descriptions was expected to have a causal relation with two aspects of competence, i.e. school achievement and peer competence. The resulting model showed stability over time of the latent variable "consistency of self-and child-descriptions", formed by the three groups of consistency-indices. A small, reciprocal relation between the consistency of self-and child-descriptions and school achievement was found. A strong effect of this consistency on the peer competence of a child was found. In addition, intelligence of the child was found to have a considerable effect on the consistency of self-and child-descriptions. These results suggest the importance of consistency in the ideas of various referent persons in the development of competence on different domains.
The Effects of Distance and Intervening Obstacles on Visual Inference in Blind and Sighted Children
Authors: Bigelow Ann E.
Published: March 2013

Totally blind, visually impaired, and normally sighted children participated in a longitudinal study in which they were asked if an observer could see the toy they were holding from varying distances in three different tasks: (1) in front of the child with no intervening obstacles between the observer and the toy; (2) behind the child with the child's body as an intervening obstacle; (3) in front of the child with walls or furniture as intervening obstacles. Visually impaired and normally sighted children were given the tasks in both blindfold and nonblindfold conditions. The totally blind children mastered the tasks later than the other groups of children. The totally blind and visually impaired children in the blindfold condition made more mistakes in Tasks 1 and 2 when the observer was over 1 metre from them than when she was less than 1 metre from them. The totally blind children had more difficulty on Task 3 than the other children, and were the only children to make mistakes when walls were the intervening obstacles between the observer and the toy. The results suggest that blind children have difficulty understanding the effects of distance and intervening obstacles on vision and that their mistaken ideas may be based on analogies to their own perceptual experience.
Social Pretend Play Among Friends and Familiar Preschoolers
Authors: Werebe Maria Jose Garcia , Baudonniere Pierre-Marie
Published: March 2013

The aim of the present study is to assess the role of partner familiarity in the organisation, duration, and content of spontaneous social pretend play in a triadic situation where two friends are in the presence of a third familiar child. Children were observed in a familiar room of their school, provided with two sets of matching objects. The sample comprised 120 children (60 girls and 60 boys) aged 3;0 to 5;0 years, forming 40 same-sex triads (20 female and 20 male). Each triad of classmates was made up of a dyad of friends, plus a familiar partner (not a friend). The findings showed that friends prefer each other as a partner in fantasy play: Play between friends is longer and richer than play with the third partner. The most important sexrelated differences involve the amount of time spent in pretend play. Girls spent nearly twice as much time in fantasy as boys. The use of two sets of identical objects for three children, without adult presence, constituted a powerful paradigm to evidence the effect of the degree of familiarity in children's interaction in general, and in pretend play in particular.
Neonatal Bathing and Massage Intervention with Fathers, Behavioural Effects 12 Weeks after Birth of the First Baby: The Sunraysia Australia Intervention Project
Authors: Scholz Kim , Samuels Curtis A.
Published: March 2013

A total of 32 first-time families from the Sunraysia district in Victoria, Australia participated in a study on the effects of a training programme (demonstration of baby massage and the Burleigh Relaxation Bath technique) with a particular emphasis on the father-infant relationship. The infants, whose parents received the training at 4-weeks post-partum, differed from comparison group infants on a constellation of behaviours at the 12 week home observation. Treatment group infants greeted their fathers with more eye contact, smiling, vocalising, reaching, and orienting responses and showed less avoidance behaviours. As well, in a 10 minute observation, the treatment group fathers showed greater involvement with their infants than comparison group fathers. The brief intervention at four weeks seems to have favourably affected the father-infant relationship in ways which would assist in the establishment of a positive bond between the first-time fathers and their infants.
Infant, Father, and Marital Antecedents of Infant Father Attachment Security in Dual-Earner and Single-Earner Families
Authors: Volling Brenda L. , Belsky Jay
Published: March 2013

In contrast to the research examining infant-mother attachment, much less is known about the development of infant-father attachment relationships. Several recent findings suggest that infants in dual-earner families may develop insecure attachments not only to their mothers, but to their fathers as well. The purpose of the present study was to examine characteristics of the father, the infant, and the marital relationship as antecedents of secure/ insecure infant-father attachments in dual-earner and single-earner families as recent reports suggest that different family processes may exist within these two family ecologies. Longitudinal data from 113 fathers and their firstborn infants were collected before the birth of the child, and when infants were 3 and 9 months old, while Strange Situation assessments were conducted when infants were 13 months of age. Results indicated that change in perceived infant temperament, men's recollected child-rearing histories, and the division of labour distinguished families in which secure or insecure infant-father attachments developed. In only one instance, that of marital conflict, does it appear that different antecedent processes underlie the development of infant-father attachment security across the two family contexts. Results suggest that conclusions based upon research on the antecedents of infant-mother attachment security cannot be presumed to apply to the study of infant-father attachment.
Parental Support and the Development of Competence in Children
Authors: van Aken Marcel A.G. , Riksen-Walraven J. Marianne
Published: March 2013

The transactional relation between parental support and the development of competence in children was investigated in a longitudinal study. Sensitivity of the parent is assumed to be a prerequisite for the ability to provide adequate social support. Subjects were 100 children, aged 9 months to 12 years, and their primary caretakers. For both boys and girls, parental responsiveness was found to have an effect on the competence of the child at the age of 9 months, at that age measured by exploration and contingency analysis. Interindividual differences in competence remained stable in boys from age 9 months to 7 years, and between the ages 7 and 10, and 10 and 12. For girls, interindividual stability in competence was only found during the elementary school years. In both boys and girls the competence of the child (as indicated by their ego-resiliency) was related to later social support given by the parent. For boys, parents were more consistent in their approach and only their respect for the child's autonomy was related to earlier competence of the child. For girls, more dimensions of parental support were related to earlier competence of the child. These results thus indicate a strong effect of parental support on a child's competence in infancy, then a genderdifferentiated stability of competence from infancy to the end of elementary school, and a relation between the competence of a child and later parental support.
Movement Imagery in Young and Congenitally Blind Children: Mental Practice without Visuo-spatial Information
Authors: Millar Susanna , Ittyerah Miriam
Published: March 2013

The study explored whether young children and congenitally totally blind children show mental practice effects for blind movements which cross the body midline. Experiment 1 tested blindfolded sighted children, with a mean age of 7 years and 11 months, on recall of a linear movement. Prior to recall, subjects either had to perform, or to imagine irrelevant (larger/smaller/same) movements. Irrelevant movements produced significant bias (CE/Constant Errors), whether carried out or imaged, although bias from imagined movements was smaller. The VE (variance/consistency) scores improved with (actual and mental) rehearsal. Articulatory suppression during delays had no effect. Experiment 2 used the same paradigm to test three groups of congenitally totally blind children with respective mean Mental Ages (MA) of 10 years and 7 months, 13 years and 7 months, and 16 years and 4 months, based on IO scores on the Williams Intelligence Test (1956) for visually handicapped children. Irrelevant movements during delays produced bias (CE) in recall, whether the movements were carried out or imagined, although bias was smaller in imagery conditions. The (CE) bias effects did not interact with MA. Mental Age interacted significantly with Delay Tasks in VE scores. The lowest MA group was less efficient (more variable) than the others, particularly in (actual and imagined) rehearsal. Articulatory suppression had no effect. The results suggest that young children can show mental practice effects in the absence of current visual cues, and that visuospatial imagery is not a necessary condition, because imagined movements also biased recall by the congenitally totally blind. It was argued that movement as well as cognitive factors can be involved in mental practice effects, and that the nature of mediation depends on the available information.
Growth and Cognition in Brazilian Schoolchildren: A Spontaneously Occurring Intervention Study
Authors: Paine Patricia , Dorea José Garrofe , Pasquali Luiz , Monteiro André Mauricio
Published: March 2013

This study examines the effects of dietary, cultural, and educational intervention on physical growth and cognition in Brazilian children aged from 7 to 10 years. A group of 38 domestic servants' children who had resided and studied for an average of three years in upper-middle class environments were compared with 88 upper-middle class children and 100 slum-dwelling (favela) children using the following measures: weight-for-height, height-for-age, Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test, the Brazilian Non-verbal Intelligence Test (INV), Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM), WISC-R Coding and Block Design subtest. Although domestic servants' children were significantly taller and heavier than their group of origin (slum-dwelling children) they continued to be significantly shorter than the middle class. Domestic servants' daughters scored significantly better than their slum-dwelling counterparts on cognitive tests measuring speed and accuracy (WISC-R Coding) and analogical reasoning (Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices), however, girls from both lower socioeconomic groups were similar in their performances on the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test, Non-verbal Intelligence Test (INV), and WISC-R Block Design subtest. Domestic servants' sons were similar to slum-dwelling boys in performance on all cognitive measures. The length of time domestic servants' children had resided in middle class homes was positively and significantly correlated with their weight-for-height and two of the five cognitive tests. Among domestic servants, mothers' egalitarian sex role and less orthodox religious attitudes were positively correlated with children's cognitive performance. The experience of living and studying in a middle class environment resulted in greater gains in physical than in cognitive development.
A Prosocial Scale for the Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire: Concurrent and Predictive Correlates
Authors: Tremblay R. E. , Vitaro F. , Gagnon C. , Piché C. , Royer N.
Published: March 2013

The Preschool Behaviour Questionnaire has been used widely to assess children's aggressive, anxious, and hyperactive behaviour. Items from the Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire were added to create a prosocial scale. The resulting questionnaire was administered to teachers of three large samples of kindergarten children and shown to have three stable, orthogonal components disruptive (13 items): anxious (6 items); and prosocial (10 items). Mother and peer assessments of children were used to investigate concurrent and predictive validity. Concurrent data showed that the disruptive component was highly correlated with peer assessments and moderately correlated with mother assessments; the prosocial component was moderately correlated with peer assessments but marginally correlated with mother assessments, whereas the anxious component was marginally correlated with peer assessments and moderately correlated with mother assessments. From a predictive perspective it was shown that highly disruptive boys in kindergarten who were prosocial, were assessed by mothers and teachers at age 9 to be better adjusted than highly disruptive boys in kindergarten who were non-prosocial.
The Social Rules that Children use: Close Friends, Other Friends, and "Other Kids" compared to Parents, Teachers, and Siblings
Authors: Bigelow B. J. , Tesson G. , Lewko J. H.
Published: March 2013

This study addressed the question of how relationships differ in terms of how children function within them. A total of 652 children of both sexes from ages 9 to 13 rated how frequently they use 56 social rules in one of two check-lists in getting along with mother, father, brother, sister, close friend, other friend, other kids, and teacher relations. Manovas, 8 X 5 X 2 (Relations X Age X Sex) showed that rule use was governed mainly by relation. Compared to other kids, compliance, social facilitation, information management, prosocial behaviour, loyalty, and managing feelings were rated more frequently in the close friend, mother, and father relations, revealing broad similarity between parent-child and close friend relations. However, the means for social facilitation were uniquely higher for close friends. Compliance and loyalty applied equally to mother, father, and teacher relations but compliance also applied to close friends. Loyalty was the only theme held in common between siblings and close friends. Age and sex differences were minor. Results confirmed the salience of relationships in governing social rule use between close friends, other friends, and other kids; parents, close friends, and other kids; close friends and siblings; and parents and teachers.
Learning How to Insist and Clarify in the Second Year: Reformulation of Requests in Different Contexts
Authors: Marcos Haydée , Chanu Mila Kornhaber-le
Published: March 2013

The aim of the present study was to demonstrate that in the beginning of the second year of life, children use pre-linguistic behaviours stereotypically and progressively acquire the capacity to devise strategies to adapt to the adult's response. Children aged 14 and 18 months were observed with their mothers in three conditions involving different maternal responses to the child's request: (1) refusing to satisfy the request; (2) willingness to satisfy it, with misunderstanding, and asking for clarification; and (3) willingness to satisfy it, with misunderstanding, and responding with the wrong object. The results showed that the behaviour of 14-month-olds was less varied across situations than the behaviour of 18-month-olds, and that 18-month-olds rely more on vocal productions (linguistic and nonlinguistic) and modifications of those vocal productions when clarification is required. This predominance of vocalisations over gestures was particularly noticeable in the situation where the mother complied but did not choose the object required by the child. The findings are discussed from the point of view of two components of request: regulation of the addressee's behaviour; and referencing of the target object. An explanation of the processes involved is proposed in terms of the specific functions of vocalisations at the end of the pre-linguistic stage, and of the role of interactive "formats" as contexts for learning communication strategies.
Age Differences in Adult Life Goals, Concerns, and Their Temporal Extension: A Life Course Approach to Future-oriented Motivation
Authors: Nurmi Jari-Erik
Published: March 2013

The individual life course is shaped by different social age systems, such as developmental tasks and social constraints. To study the extent to which age differences in goals and concerns reflect these age-graded tasks, 371 19to 64year-old subjects were asked to write down their goals and concerns and to anticipate when they would be actualised, indicating temporal extension. The results showed that adults' goals and concerns reflected the developmental tasks of their own age: Young adults frequently mentioned future educationand family-related goals, the middle-aged had goals related to their children's lives and property, and elderly people were interested in their own health, retirement, leisure activities, and the world. Young adults frequently mentioned concerns related to themselves and their friends, middle-aged and elderly people had occupationand health-related fears, respectively. Moreover, the temporal extension of adults' goals related to education, family, and occupation decreased with age, as the developmental tasks they concerned approached in time.
Parents' Knowledge of their Children's Preferences
Authors: Miller Scott A. , Davis Teresa L. , Wilde Carol Ann , Brown Juliet
Published: March 2013

This study examined the accuracy with which parents can judge their children's preferences, as well as the relation between parental accuracy and measures of the child's cognitive performance. Subjects were 54 secondand fifth-grade children (mean ages = 7 years, 11 months and 10 years, 10 months, respectively), their mothers, and fathers. Each child responded to a battery of questions directed to preferences of various sorts (e.g. favourite dinner, favourite school subject), and each parent predicted his or her child's response to each of the questions. Parents proved only moderately accurate in judging their children's preferences. Mothers were significantly more accurate than fathers, and parents of fifth-graders were more accurate than parents of second-graders. The accuracy of the parents' predictions was significantly related to their children's performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and on school achievement tests. Various explanations for the relation between parental accuracy and child performance were considered, including the match hypothesis, that is, the proposition that more knowledgeable parents match the demands of the environment to the child's level, thus promoting cognitive development.