bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Psychological Understanding and Positive Social Behaviors
Authors: Cassidy Kimberly Wright , Werner Rebecca Stetson , Rourke Mary , Zubernis Lynn S. , Balaraman Geetha 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThis research investigates the relationship between psychological understanding and positive social behavior in preschool children. A sample of 67 children were given measures of mental state understanding and emotion understanding. Positive social behavior was measured by classroom observation, teacher report and peer ratings. Both mental state understanding and emotion understanding were positively related to teacher ratings of social skills, behavioral observers’ global ratings of social skills and peer popularity. When language ability was partialled out of these relationships, many of the significant correlations disappeared; however, for variables related to peers’ perceptions, psychological understanding continued to predict unique variance. The results are discussed in terms of the multiple determinacy of positive social behaviors and the potential role of language in these processes.
The Friendship Features of Preschool Children: Links with Prosocial Behavior and Aggression
Authors: Sebanc Anne M. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThis study assessed features of young children's friendships and determined whether the features reported were associated with prosocial and aggressive behavior. Teachers completed the friendship features questionnaires (FFQ) on the mutual friendships in their class identified by the 98 children who were interviewed (M age =3.91 years). Four subscales (support, conflict, exclusivity/intimacy, and asymmetry) were differentiated from the 36‐item questionnaire. Teacher reports of friendship features showed moderate inter‐rater reliability and were associated with teacher reports of aggression and prosocial behavior and peer reports of acceptance and rejection. Friendship support was positively correlated with prosocial behavior, friendship conflict was positively correlated with overt aggression and peer rejection, and friendship exclusivity/intimacy was positively associated with relational aggression and negatively with peer acceptance. Findings are consistent with research on school age children's friendship features and their behavioral correlates.
The Influence of Gender and Ethnicity on Children's Inferences About Toy Choice
Authors: Lam Virginia L. , Leman Patrick J. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBy 4–5 years of age children can make gender‐congruent inferences about toys. Not only do they respond differentially to gender labels attached to toys, even without such labels they make inferences about toy choice that reflect an awareness of and identification with their gender in‐group. However it is unclear how far inferences about toy choice extend to other aspects of a child's social identity. The present study explored the influence of both gender and ethnicity on children's judgements on toy choice for themselves and others. Eighty‐four children in three age groups (5, 6–7, 8–9 yrs) were shown photographs of unfamiliar toys and unfamiliar children from three ethnic groups (white, black, Asian) and were asked to rate how much they and these children would like each toy. Boys consistently predicted that Asian children would like the toys less than other ethnic groups. Ethnicity influenced inferences from 6–7 years old where children predicted that white, black and Asian peers would like the toys differently from each other. Children at 8–9 years old predicted that Asian peers would like the toys less than both white and black peers. Analysis of differences between children's own liking and predictions for same‐ and opposite‐sex others revealed that they were gendercentric. That is, children predicted that a same‐sex child would like a toy more similarly to themselves compared to an opposite‐sex child. Analysis between white and Asian children's own liking and predictions for same‐ and other‐ethnic others found that only 6–7‐year‐olds made ethnocentric inferences. That is, same‐ethnic peers’ liking was rated more similar to children's own compared to that of other‐ethnic peers. Findings are discussed in light of cognitive developmental theories and previous work on the development of perspective‐taking skills.
Risk Factors for Ethnic Prejudice During Early Adolescence
Authors: Kiesner Jeff , Maass Anne , Cadinu Mara , Vallese Isi 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThis study examines risk factors for ethnic prejudice during early adolescence in a sample of Italian middle school students (N=187). It was predicted that low peer status would be associated with negative ratings of ethnic out‐groups, but that this relation would be moderated by self‐esteem. It was further hypothesized that individuals and their self‐nominated groups would be similar with regard to ethnic prejudice, and that antisocial behavior would be positively related to ethnic prejudice. Consistent with our prediction, results revealed that when self‐esteem was low, low peer status was associated with high prejudice against out‐groups. On the contrary, when self‐esteem was high, this relation was non‐existent. Moreover, individuals and their self‐nominated groups were similar with regard to ethnic prejudice, but only for stigmatized out‐groups. A relation was found between antisocial behavior and ethnic prejudice, but only for non‐stigmatized out‐groups. The present study emphasizes the importance (1) of studying individual differences in risk factors and levels of prejudice and (2) of investigating the influence that peers may have on the development of ethnic prejudice.
Annotation: The neural basis of social impairments in autism: the role of the dorsal medial‐frontal cortex and anterior cingulate system
Authors: Mundy Peter 
Published: August 2003

Background: The fundamental social disturbance of autism is characterized, in part, by problems in the acquisition of joint attention skills in the first years of life, followed by impairments in the development of social cognition, as assessed on theory of mind (ToM) measures. Recently, studies have indicated that a system involving the dorsal medial‐frontal cortex (DMFC), and the anterior cingulate (AC), may contribute to the development of the tendency to initiate joint attention in infancy. Similarly, research has implicated the DMFC/AC system in ToM performance in typical and atypical individuals. These data suggest it may be useful to consider the functions associated with this system in the developmental psychopathology of autism.Method: A review of the studies of the connections between the DMFC/AC system, joint attention and ToM task performance.Results and conclusions: This review raises the hypothesis that the DMFC/AC may be involved in the basic disturbance in social orienting in autism. The DMFAC/AC may also play a role in the capacity to monitor proprioceptive information concerning self‐action and integrate this self‐related information with exteroceptive perceptual information about the behavior of other people. A disturbance in these functions of the DMFC/AC may contribute to the atypical development of intersubjectivity, joint attention and social cognition that may impair the lives of people with autism. Thus, impairment in the development of this system may constitute a neural substrate for socio‐cognitive deficits in autism.
Infant attachment and temperament as predictors of subsequent externalizing problems and cardiac physiology
Authors: Burgess Kim B. , Marshall Peter J. , Rubin Kenneth H. , Fox Nathan A. 
Published: August 2003

Background: The primary objective of this study was to examine the extent to which both individual child temperament and parent–child relationship quality independently and/or interactively predicted physiological, psychosocial, and behavioral ‘outcomes’. Employing a longitudinal prospective design over three years, statistical associations were found among infant attachment, uninhibited temperament, and 4‐year behavioral and physiological functioning that supported a bio‐psychosocial model of development.Method: Three cohorts totaling 140 children and their mothers visited the laboratory for observational assessments of attachment classification at age 14 months (Strange Situation), behavioral inhibition at 24 months, and social behaviors with unfamiliar peers at age 4 years. Cardiac measures of heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were collected at every time point. At age 4 years maternal ratings of child temperament and behaviors were also obtained.Results: Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with inhibition group (high, moderate, low) and attachment classification (A, B, C) revealed that the low inhibited group had significantly higher activity level scores and displayed significantly less reticence at 4 years compared to the moderately and highly inhibited groups. Infants who had an avoidant attachment with their mothers had more externalizing problems (aggressive behaviors) at age 4 than either securely or ambivalently attached infants. This predictive relation, however, was qualified by an interaction whereby avoidant attachment and uninhibited temperament together predicted a higher incidence of externalizing behavior problems. Moreover, infants’ avoidant attachment was not concurrently but predictively associated with lower heart rate and high RSA at age 4 years. Therefore, an avoidant mother–child relationship in infancy could influence the development of an underaroused autonomic profile in early childhood.Conclusions: Consistent with bio‐psychosocial models of development, these findings support the contention that both early child temperament and parent–child relationship quality contribute to subsequent psychological/behavioral and physiological functioning.
Strong genetic effects on cross‐situational antisocial behaviour among 5‐year‐old children according to mothers, teachers, examiner‐observers, and twins’ self‐reports
Authors: Arseneault Louise , Moffitt Terrie E. , Caspi Avshalom , Taylor Alan , Rijsdijk Fruhling V. , Jaffee Sara R. , Ablow Jennifer C. , Measelle Jeffrey R. 
Published: August 2003

Background: Early childhood antisocial behaviour is a strong prognostic indicator for poor adult mental health. Thus, information about its etiology is needed. Genetic etiology is unknown because most research with young children focuses on environmental risk factors, and the few existing studies of young twins used only mothers’ reports of behaviour, which may be biased.Method: We investigated genetic influences on antisocial behaviour in a representative‐plus‐high‐risk sample of 1116 pairs of 5‐year‐old twins using data from four independent sources: mothers, teachers, examiner‐observers previously unacquainted with the children, and the children themselves.Results: Children's antisocial behaviour was reliably measured by all four informants; no bias was detected in mothers’, teachers’, examiners’, or children's reports. Variation in antisocial behaviour that was agreed upon by all informants, and thus was pervasive across settings, was influenced by genetic factors (82%) and experiences specific to each child (18%). Variation in antisocial behaviour that was specific to each informant was meaningful variation, as it was also influenced by genetic factors (from 33% for the children's report to 71% for the teachers’ report).Conclusions: This study and four others of very young twins show that genetic risks contribute strongly to population variation in antisocial behaviour that emerges in early childhood. In contrast, genetic risk is known to be relatively modest for adolescent antisocial behaviour, suggesting that the early‐childhood form has a distinct etiology, particularly if it is pervasive across situations.
Genotype–environment interaction in children's adjustment to parental separation
Authors: O'Connor Thomas G. , Caspi Avshalom , DeFries John C. , Plomin Robert 
Published: August 2003

Background: Understanding the processes by which genetic risks lead to psychopathology is a key conceptual and methodological task for research. The current study, based on an at‐risk adoption design, examines the hypothesis that the effect of genetic risk on children's behavioral/emotional problems and social adjustment is moderated by psychosocial risk, specifically parental separation.Method: Data are based on the Colorado Adoption Project. One hundred and seventy‐one adoptees, all of whom were placed in the adoptive home in early infancy, were assessed using a multi‐method strategy at 12 years of age. Adoptees’ adjustment was measured using parent and teacher reports on the Child Behavioral Checklist as well as observer ratings of social competence; all raters were blind to the biological background of the adoptee. Genetic risk was indexed by biological parents’ self‐reports of negative emotionality, which was completed prior to the adoption.Results: By age 12 years, 23 of the 171 adoptees experienced a separation in the adoptive home. Correlation and regression analyses indicated that the association between genetic risk and child adjustment was moderated by parental separation. In the absence of parental separation, genetic risk was uncorrelated with adoptee adjustment; however, there were substantial and significant associations between individual differences in genetic diathesis and poor adjustment among the adoptees who experienced parental separation.Conclusions: The association between parental separation and children's behavioral/emotional and social adjustment may not be entirely environmental in origin. Genetic vulnerability is accentuated by major psychosocial stresses, and this may partly explain the wide individual differences in children's adjustment to family transitions.
Executive functioning, temperament, and drug use involvement in adolescent females with a substance use disorder
Authors: Giancola Peter R. , Mezzich Ada C. 
Published: August 2003

Background:This study determined whether temperament mediates the relation between executive functioning (EF) and drug use involvement and whether EF and temperament interact to account for unique variance in drug use involvement.Method:Participants were 340, 14–18‐year‐old, adolescent females with a substance use disorder and controls. EF was measured using a battery of neuropsychological tests, temperament was assessed using theDimensions of Temperament Survey – Revised, and drug use involvement was measured with theDrug Use Screening Inventory.Results:Temperament mediated the relation between EF and drug use involvement. Girls with a ‘difficult’ temperament exhibited significantly greater drug use involvement than girls with a ‘good’ temperament. Finally, low EF was significantly related to increased drug use involvement for girls with a good temperament, but not for girls with a difficult temperament.Conclusions:The results suggest that a difficult temperament is a more important risk factor for drug use than low EF. Given previous studies that have shown significant relations between EF and drug use, further research on this topic is warranted.
The effect of social context on psychiatrists’ judgments of adolescent antisocial behavior
Authors: Hsieh Derek K. , Kirk Stuart A. 
Published: August 2003

Background: The DSM assumes that mental disorders can be identified by the presence of specific co‐occurring symptoms associated with certain duration and impaired functioning, independent of the social context in which symptoms occur. The validity of this assumption was tested using the judgments of experienced psychiatrists. We hypothesized that psychiatrists would judge an identical set of adolescent antisocial behaviors, meeting the DSM‐IV diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder, as indicative of mental disorder or non‐disordered problem‐in‐living, depending on the social context.Method: A representative sample of 483 psychiatrists in the United States read one of three experimentally manipulated vignettes depicting adolescent antisocial behavior and responded to questions concerning its nature, prognosis, cause, and response to various treatments.Results: Results supported our hypothesis. Under some circumstances, a youth may exhibit behaviors that meet the DSM‐IV diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder, but be judged by psychiatrists as not having a mental disorder. In addition, as predicted, psychiatrists reached different judgments about course, etiology, and treatment responsiveness when the identical behaviors occurred in different social contexts.Conclusions: The findings illuminate weaknesses in the validity of classification systems based on behavioral criteria independent of their social context. Implications of findings are discussed.
Locally oriented perception with intact global processing among adolescents with high‐functioning autism: evidence from multiple paradigms
Authors: Mottron Laurent , Burack Jacob A. , Iarocci Grace , Belleville Sylvie , Enns James T. 
Published: August 2003

Background: According to predictions from the Weak Central Coherence (WCC) theory for perceptual processing, persons with autism should display a tendency to focus on minute details rather than on a more general picture (Frith & Happé, 1994). However, the evidence for this theory is not consistent with findings of an enhanced detection of local targets (Plaisted, O'Riordan, & Baron‐Cohen, 1998b; Plaisted, Swettenham, & Rees, 1999), but a typical global bias (Mottron, Burack, Stauder, & Robaey, 1999; Ozonoff, Strayer, McMahon, & Filloux, 1994).Method: Adolescents with high‐functioning autism and CA‐ (approximately 15 years) and IQ‐ (approximately 105–110) matched typically developing adolescents were administered a series of global–local visual tasks, including a traditional task of hierarchical processing, three tasks of configural processing, and a disembedding task that involved rapid perceptual processing.Results: No group differences were found on either the traditional task of hierarchical processing or on tasks of configural processing. However, group differences were found on the disembedding task as the search for embedded, in relation to isolated stimuli, was slower for the typically developing adolescents but similar for the participants with autism.Conclusions: These findings are consistent with other reports of superior performance in detecting embedded figures (Jolliffe & Baron‐Cohen, 1997; Shah & Frith, 1983), but typical performance in global and configural processing (Mottron, Burack et al., 1999; Ozonoff et al., 1994) among persons with high‐functioning autism. Thus, the notions of local bias and global impairment that are part of WCC may need to be reexamined.
Mental rotation delays the heart beat: Probing the central processing bottleneck
Authors: Jennings J. Richard , Van Der Molen Maurits W. , Debski Kay 
Published: August 2003

AbstractWe tested the hypothesis that mental rotation would delay response‐related processing as indicated by transient slowing of the heart beat. Thirty college‐age subjects (half female) were presented with normal and mirror image letters rotated at 0, 60, 120, and 180°. Three letters were assigned to a right‐hand response; a separate three to a left‐hand response. Responses were only required for letters in one orientation, mirror or normal. Continuous measures of interbeat interval (IBI) of the heart, respiration, and muscle tension were collected. Performance results were largely consistent with prior findings. Greater angular displacement of the stimuli was associated with greater lengthening of IBI immediately after the stimulus. IBI was influenced equally by angle of rotation in respond and inhibit trials. The lengthening of IBI was interpreted as due to a delay in response selection and execution due to mental rotation.
Correspondence between laboratory and ambulatory measures of cardiovascular reactivity: A multilevel modeling approach
Authors: Kamarck Thomas W. , Schwartz Joseph E. , Janicki Denise L. , Shiffman Saul , Raynor Douglas A. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractWe examined the correspondence between laboratory measures of cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) andwithin‐personchanges in cardiovascular activity during the challenges of daily life, after adjustment for posture, activity, and other effects. Healthy adults (n=335) were administered laboratory measures of CVR along with 6 days of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and electronic diary reports. Compared with low reactors, high laboratory systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactors showed larger increases in SBP during periods of high task demand or low decisional control in daily life. High diastolic blood pressure (DBP) reactors showed larger increases in ambulatory DBP during situations rated as both low control and high demand. This multilevel modeling approach may enhance our ability to detect the correspondence between laboratory and ambulatory measures of CVR, and to identify the circumstances under which it may be most clearly observed.
Meta‐analysis of P300 and schizophrenia: Patients, paradigms, and practical implications
Authors: Jeon Yang‐Whan , Polich John 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe goal of the present meta‐analysis was to identify factors that contribute to P300 event‐related brain potential (ERP) differences in patients with schizophrenia compared to unaffected controls in an attempt to characterize the clinically relevant dimensions underlying P300 deficits in patients with schizophrenia. P300 effect size (d) was smaller in amplitude and longer in latency in schizophrenic patients compared to normal controls, with the strongest effects obtained from the auditory oddball. Paranoid subtype demonstrated larger P300 amplitude effect sizes than other disease subtypes, and P300 latency effect size decreased with disease duration. Psychopathology severity and antipsychotic medications were unrelated to P300 amplitude effect size. Gender proportion, educational level, and stimulus and task variables also affected P300 amplitude and latency effect sizes. The findings are used to formulate a theoretical account of the empirical data and provide suggestions for maximizing the utility of the P300 component in the assessment of schizophrenia.
Event‐related potential correlates of impaired visuospatial working memory in schizophrenia
Authors: Cameron Allison M. , Geffen Gina M. , Kavanagh David J. , Wright Margie J. , McGrath John J. , Geffen Laurie B. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractPrevious studies have reported that patients with schizophrenia demonstrate impaired performance during working memory (WM) tasks. The current study aimed to determine whether WM impairments in schizophrenia are accompanied by reduced slow wave (SW) activity during on‐line maintenance of mnemonic information. Event‐related potentials were obtained from patients with schizophrenia and well controls as they performed a visuospatial delayed response task. On 50% of trials, a distractor stimulus was introduced during the delay. Compared with controls, patients with schizophrenia produced less SW memory negativity, particularly over the right hemisphere, together with reduced frontal enhancement of SW memory negativity in response to distraction. The results indicate that patients with schizophrenia generate less maintenance phase neuronal activity during WM performance, especially under conditions of distraction.