Children's Achievement in Early Elementary School: Longitudinal Effects of Parental Involvement, Expectations, and Quality of Assistance.

In this prospective, longitudinal study, the authors examined the relations among parental behaviors, parental expectations, and children's academic achievement. Participants were 187 low-income children and their mothers, studied from birth of the child through 3rd grade. Mothers' quality of instruction prior to school entry had significant direct effects on IQ and indirect effects on achievement in 1st and 3rd grades. Parental expectations in 3rd grade had significant direct effects on parental involvement in 3rd grade. Children's achievement in 1st grade had significant direct effects on parental involvement and expectations in 3rd grade. Parental involvement in 3rd grade had a significant direct effect on achievement in 3rd grade. Results suggest that early parenting factors are important for children's academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's understanding of indebtedness as a feature of reciprocal help exchanges between peers.

Examined age differences in children's understanding of indebtedness as a function of helper cost and relationship. 120 children from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades responded to 3 high-cost and 3 low-cost vignettes describing a hypothetical reciprocal exchange between 2 friends or 2 acquaintances. Fifth graders reported a diminished obligation to reciprocate following the receipt of low-cost help, whereas the obligation to reciprocate remained high for 3rd and 1st graders. Low-cost help also minimized any negative feelings resulting from a peer's inability to reciprocate for 5th and 3rd graders but not 1st graders. All children reported that it was more important for an acquaintance to reciprocate assistance than it was for a friend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decoding and comprehension skills in Turkish and English: Effects of the regularity of grapheme-phoneme correspondences.

Assesses decoding and comprehension skills for Turkish and American 1st and 3rd graders. 20 Ss in each group were tested on a pseudoword vocalization task and on a paragraph comprehension task. Latency and accuracy data indexed decoding proficiency and percentage correct comprehension skill. Turkish Ss were faster and more accurate on the decoding task than Americans at the 1st-grade level and equally accurate but faster at the 3rd-grade level. In 1st but not 3rd grade, Turkish Ss were superior to Americans on the comprehension task. Significant relationships between decoding and comprehension were found for all but American 3rd graders. Data suggest that languages with more regular letter–sound correspondences lead to faster acquisition of decoding skills. Findings also support a decreased relationship between decoding and comprehension once learners are beyond initial reading. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the ability to distinguish between comprehension and memory: Evidence from strategy-selection tasks.

Four experiments investigated developmental changes in children's knowledge about the types of strategies that are appropriate for achieving the goals of comprehension or memorization. We assessed 1st and 3rd graders' recognition of the differential effectiveness of a memorization strategy (repetition) and a comprehension strategy (pictorial clarification of problematic words) for achieving memorization (verbatim recall of block-building instructions) or comprehension (following instructions for constructing a block building). Only 3rd graders distinguished between comprehension and memorization by consistently selecting the more effective strategy for both memorization and comprehension. Children's ability to distinguish between comprehension and memory in their strategy selections may depend, in part, on whether the context provides clear, concrete, overt, behavioral criteria for defining memorization and comprehension as distinct goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypothesis testing and cognitive style in children.

Performed 2 experiments with 109 3rd graders. The 1st experiment investigated the relationship between cognitive style and the hypothesis-testing behavior children use in solving concept attainment problems. Field-independent (FI) and field-dependent (FD) Ss, as assessed by the Children's Embedded Figures Test, were administered concept attainment problems using a blank-trial methodology that closely examines how clearing proceeds. While both groups adopted a hypothesis-testing approach, only the performance of FI Ss coincided with a perfect focusing model. FD Ss did not process information efficiently; there were significant differences in coding, recoding, and retention of information. The 2nd experiment was designed to enhance the information processing of FD Ss by providing various stimulus aids. Consistent focusing was obtained in a treatment condition in which compound stimuli were disembedded into their component parts. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solving compare problems: An eye movement test of Lewis and Mayer's consistency hypothesis.

According to A. Lewis and R. E. Mayer's (1987) simulation model for understanding compare problems, students make more comprehension errors when the order of the terms in the relational statement is not consistent with the preferred order. Three eye movement experiments, designed to test a number of hypotheses directly derived from this model, are discussed. The 1st experiment with university students solving 1-step compare problems revealed no evidence in favor of the model; the data of the 2nd experiment with 3rd graders, on the other hand, provided good support. To explain the results of the 1st experiment, a 3rd experiment was carried out in which university students were given a set of 2-step compare problems. The results from that study also fit with the model well, suggesting that the model holds true only when the task puts some cognitive demands on the S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multimethod comparison of popular and unpopular children.

Differences between 101 popular and unpopular 3rd and 4th graders were assessed by teacher reports, classroom observations, the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, the Children's Depression Inventory, ratings on role-play situations, interviews that elicited information on Ss' knowledge of social skills, and responses to hypothetical situations. Unpopular Ss were perceived as being more depressed and deviant by teachers than were popular Ss. Classroom observations indicated that unpopular Ss spent significantly less time on-task than popular Ss and engaged in significantly more negative interactions. There was a trend for popular Ss to perform at a higher academic level than unpopular Ss, and the latter Ss were more depressed than Ss in the former group. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Soutien familial et ajustement des enfants de parents séparés.

Studied social interactions of children with each member of their maritally disrupted family, and the contribution of family support variables to children's adjustment. 113 normal 1st–5th graders and 62 from maritally disrupted families (average of 1.2 yrs since parental separation) were interviewed twice, 1 yr apart. An ANOVA and a series of multivariate analyses of variance were performed. An adaptation of the Children's Inventory of Social Support (N. I. Sandler et al, 1984), the Child Behavior Checklist and the Self-Esteem Questionnaire were used. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rhymes and reasons: Some aspects of the child's appreciation of poetic form.

Investigated 18 1st and 3rd graders' appreciation of rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration in poetry. Several measures were used to assess each child's appreciation of the poetic devices. Even 1st graders exhibited some appreciation of rhyme and rhythm in poetry. These Ss displayed an ability to attend to these poetic devices as measured by a detection task, 2 concept learning tasks, and a production task. Moreover, they also expressed preferences for poetry samples containing these devices. However, such was not the case for alliteration. First graders experienced difficulty in attending to alliteration, and neither 1st nor 3rd graders displayed any tendency to prefer poems with alliteration. The results of a posttest questionnaire indicated that only a few children showed any understanding of how the devices function in poetry. It is concluded that although 1st graders have some rudimentary appreciation of rhyme and rhythm in poetry, the ability to understand how such devices function in poetry is a much later development. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of information about future interaction and peer's motivation on peer reward allocations.

Most equity studies dealing with children have defined inputs solely in terms of relative task performance. Yet in naturally occurring circumstances, children are presented with information about accomplishments in a context of other equally salient information. The present study determined what information 192 1st and 3rd graders weighted most heavily when formulating allocation decision rules. Ss allocated rewards to themselves and 2 unfamiliar players following a tower-building task. One player always constructed a shorter tower than the participant and the other player. Altruistic, aggressive, or no motivation information was attributed to the short-tower player. Half of the Ss anticipated future interaction with the players. It was hypothesized that both 1st and 3rd graders would utilize information concerning a peer's motivation in allocating rewards and that the prospect of future interaction would influence the use of the motivation information. Results corroborate the 1st hypothesis and indicate that prospect of future interaction information masked the effects of a peer's motivation for 3rd graders. First graders used this information only when no motivation information was given. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children's understanding of a speaker's intentional use of a false utterance.

72 1st and 3rd graders and college students were read short stories containing a terminal communication from a speaker to a listener. The consistency between the story and the terminal communication was manipulated by making factual information congruent or incongruent with the terminal utterance. The intentionality of the speaker's use of the utterance was manipulated by portraying the speaker as aware or unaware of the facts. S's understanding of the use of the utterance and of the relation between the utterance and the facts was assessed by questions. Results show that the 1st graders' responses to inconsistency were biased by a literal interpretative strategy; these children had little understanding of how to evaluate nonliteral intentionality in the use of an utterance. Third graders made mature interpretations of inconsistency in an utterance and had some understanding of the intentional use of a false utterance. This understanding increased with age. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of imaginative behavior: Implications of play for a theory of fantasy.

Reviews observations and theories concerning the developmental course of play and fantasy and examines evidence on play for elements applicable to a theory of fantasy. In important aspects of content and structure, play resembles fantasy at corresponding points in development and appears to reflect individuals' current focal concerns. In the absence of evidence that play and fantasy are motivated solely to attain extrinsic goals, the motivation for their occurrence may provisionally be considered autotelic, their momentum inherent in the capacity for activity and modulated by the organism's momentary needs for activation. Fantasy may be phenomenologically effortless, and play less effortful than other activity. Children's play may contribute to the solution of instrumental problems, problems of emotional integration, and problems of experiential continuity. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response sets and factor loadings on sixty-one personality scales.

Intercorrelations between 58 MMPI and 3 other personality scales, based upon the scores of 151 students, were factor analyzed and the factors rotated orthogonally. Loadings of the scales on the 1st factor correlated .90 with the proportion of items keyed for socially desirable responses and .98 with the zero-order correlations of the scales with the Social Desirability (SD) scale. The proportion of keyed True items correlated .82 with the loadings of the scales on the 2nd factor. The Lie and 3 other scales similar to the Lie scale had substantial loadings on the 3rd factor. The 1st factor is interpreted as reflecting the tendency to acquiesce, and the 3rd as reflecting the tendency to falsify answers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental study of effort and ability attributions.

Used paired-comparison and serial-integration measures to determine ability attributions (from effort and outcome information) and effort attributions (from ability and outcome information) for 16 males and 16 females at each of the following levels: 1st grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade and undergraduate. First and 3rd graders were tested individually and orally; 5th graders and undergraduates were tested in groups and in written form. Analysis of responses on the 4 paired-comparison and the 4 serial-integration questions revealed that, by the 1st grade, children demonstrate some appreciation of the inverse relation between effort and ability. Further, it appears that inferring effort expenditure from ability and outcome information occurs developmentally prior to making ability attributions from effort and outcome information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's generation and communication of mnemonic organizational strategies.

Using a series of alternating sort/recall trials, whether 108 1st, 3rd, and 6th graders' experience with categorically related items would facilitate their subsequent organization and recall of low-associated items was explored. Results indicate that 3rd graders exposed to the categorized materials recalled more low-associated items and demonstrated greater organization in sorting and recall than did 3rd graders with previous experience with low-associated materials. Sixth graders' performance with low-associated materials was not affected by their previous experience. Following the memory task, each S provided answers to a series of metamemory questions and then instructed a 1st-grade child in how to perform the memory task. The instructions given to the 1st graders, as well as the performance of these younger children, reflected the older children's differential experience with taxonomic vs low-associated materials. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A health resources inventory: The development of a measure of the personal and social competence of primary-grade children.

A series of interrelated studies describe the scale development and empirical validation of the Health Resources Inventory (HRI), a teacher measure of primary-grade children's competency-related behavior. Oblique factor analysis of the HRI for matched samples ( N = 298 and N = 294) of 1st-3rd graders yielded comparable solutions, each with 5 internally consistent competence dimensions. Test-retest reliability was .87 for the full scale and ranged from .72 to .91 on individual factor scales. Parametric findings reveal that girls had consistently higher competence scores, county children had significantly higher scores than city children, and there were no consistent grade level differences. Correlations between the HRI and a symptom scale indicate that although competence and pathology are strongly (inversely) related for overall global judgments, competence and pathology are more independent at the level of individual factors. The HRI discriminated between normal and disturbed children, and in a more stringent validity test, sensitively differentiated competence levels within a normative sample. Limitations of the inventory are discussed along with implications for future work. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's distributive justice reasoning: A standardized and objective scale.

A paired-comparisons measure of distributive justice development (DJS) was developed and validated in 3 studies. In Exp I, 104 children from kindergarten and 2nd and 4th grades were given the DJS and 2 Piagetian logical reasoning tasks. Age trends and a relation with logical reasoning were found. In Exp II, 66 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders were given the DJS and a measure of verbal ability. Age trends and a low relation with verbal ability were found. In Exp III, 88 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders from Kinshasa, Zaire, were given the DJS. The trends replicated those found in Exp II. Implications for distributive justice research are drawn. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spontaneous fantasy as a resource of high grade retardates for coping with a failure-stress frustration.

Institutionalized high grade (60 IQ and above) retardates between the ages of 12 and 22 were divided into 2 groups on the basis of degree to which fantasy (as measured by a Fantasy Inventory) characterized their personality makeup. Ss were then placed in a frustrating situation (E making deprecatory remarks regarding S's tracing geometric designs). Post frustration, Ss were placed in a waiting room situation, one group permitted, the other not, to talk, smoke, and chew. High and low fantasizers were not generally distinguishable except by 2 of the subscales of an Attitude Questionnaire. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of induced moods on voice affect.

Happy or sad moods were experimentally induced in 30 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders using a frequently employed mood-induction technique. Voice affect (with verbal content filtered out) was found to be significantly happier during the positive mood induction than during a baseline neutral condition. Voice affect was significantly sadder during the negative mood induction only for the youngest age group (1st graders). Results support the validity of mood-induction techniques with young children. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)