Roles of temperamental arousal and gender-segregated play in young children's social adjustment.

The hypothesis that gender differences in children's adjustment is partially influenced by differences in temperament and interactions with same-sex peers was examined. Fifty-seven predominantly White, middle-class preschoolers (29 boys and 28 girls, M age?=?54.5 months) participated. Measures were taken of children's arousability, problem behaviors, and tendencies to play with same-sex peers. A semester later, children's peer status was assessed. Analyses revealed that arousability and same-sex peer play interacted to predict problem behaviors. For boys high in arousability, play with same-sex peers increased problem behaviors. In contrast, arousable girls who played with other girls were relatively unlikely to show problem behaviors. Moreover, the interaction of arousability and same-sex peer play predicted boys' (but not girls') peer status, and this relation was partially mediated by problem behaviors. The role of gender-related processes is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The stability and consequences of young children's same-sex peer interactions.

This article addresses whether young children's play-partner choices are stable over time and how these choices influence behavior. Sixty-one children (28 boys and 33 girls; mean age?=?53 months) were observed over 6 months, and type of play behavior and sex of play partners were recorded. Children's partner preferences were highly sex differentiated and stable over time, especially when larger aggregates of data were used. Two types of consequences were identified: a binary effect that influenced differences between the sexes and a social dosage effect that influenced variations within the sexes. The binary effect reflected a pattern in which the more both girls and boys played with same-sex partners, the more their behavior became sex differentiated. The social dosage effect reflected a pattern in which variations in levels of same-sex play in the fall contributed significantly to variations in the spring above initial levels of the target behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When girls versus boys play alone: Nonsocial play and adjustment in kindergarten.

The goal of the present study was to examine the relations between different forms of children's nonsocial play behaviors and adjustment in kindergarten. The participants in this study were 77 kindergarten children (38 boys, 39 girls; mean age?=?66.16 months, SD?=?4.11 months). Mothers completed ratings of child shyness and emotion dysregulation. Children's nonsocial play behaviors (reticent, solitary-passive, solitary-active) were observed during free play. In addition, teachers rated child behavior problems (internalizing and externalizing) and social competence; academic achievement was assessed through child interviews. Results from regression analyses revealed that different types of nonsocial play were differentially associated with child characteristics and indices of adjustment. For some forms of nonsocial play, the nature of these associations differed significantly for boys and girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of children's academic competence from their effortful control, relationships, and classroom participation.

The authors examined the relations among children's effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence with a sample of 7- to 12-year-old children (N = 264). Parents and children reported on children's effortful control, and teachers and children reported on children's school relationships and classroom participation. Children's grade point averages (GPAs) and absences were obtained from school-issued report cards. Significant positive correlations existed between effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence. Consistent with expectations, the teacher-child relationship, social competence, and classroom participation partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in GPA from the beginning to the end of the school year. The teacher-child relationship and classroom participation also partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in school absences across the year. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations of majority-minority group status and having an other-religion friend to Indonesian youths' socioemotional functioning.

In this study, the authors examined the relations of Indonesian adolescents' socioemotional functioning to their majority-minority status and the presence of cross-religion friendships and whether sex moderated these relations. At Time 1, 1,254 7th graders and their peers in Bandung, Indonesia, reported on their friendships, prosocial behavior, and peer likability; months later, a selected sample of 250 youths and their teachers and parents rated the youths' social functioning and (mal)adjustment. When controlling for socioeconomic status and initial sociometric status, girls were generally higher in measures of adjustment, whereas majority children were lower in externalizing problems and, for boys, loneliness. For minority children's social competence and prosocial behavior at school, there was evidence of a buffering effect of having a cross-religion friend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting change in academic achievement: A model of peer experiences and self-system processes.

The purpose of this study was to test a model of peer experiences and academic achievement among elementary school children. This model postulates that the quality of children's social relations (e.g., social preference) in the peer group can foster or inhibit feelings of connectedness (e.g., loneliness), which in turn affects children's perceptions of academic competence. Finally, perceptions of academic competence are hypothesized to predict change in academic achievement. Participants were 397 school children (206 girls, 191 boys; mean age?=?108 months, range?=?88–157 months). Results from structural equation modeling provided support for the proposed model. Discussion centers on the mediational role of self-system processes between children's social relations and change in academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Promoting interpersonal competence and educational success through extracurricular activity participation.

This longitudinal study investigated consistent participation in extracurricular activities as a contributor to long-term educational success. Participants were 695 boys and girls who were interviewed annually to the end of high school and again at age 20. Family economic status, interpersonal competence, and educational aspirations during adolescence were used to assess educational status at young adulthood. Consistent extracurricular activity participation across adolescence on the educational attainment process was examined. Consistent extracurricular activity participation was associated with high educational status at young adulthood including college attendance. Educational status was, in turn, linked to reciprocal positive changes between extracurricular activity participation and interpersonal competence, and to educational aspirations across adolescence. Findings were most apparent for students with below-average interpersonal competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'évaluation de soi, les buts d'apprentissage et leur impact sur le rendement scolaire d'èléves en sixièxe anneé du primaire.

The relations between perceptions of competence, self-efficacy and types of goals, and their influence on school achievement have been examined among a sample of 224 girls and 193 boys of grade six. Results showed that as was expected even though perceptions of competence and self-efficacy were related, the latter better predicts school achievement. Contrary to what was expected, no negative influence was observed for the combination of low self-efficacy and performance goals on school achievement. Finally, according to a last hypothesis, the pattern of relations between motivational variables and school achievement differs for girls and boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Same-sex and cross-sex help exchanges in the classroom.

For this study, we combined interviews and naturalistic observations of the same children to examine same-sex and cross-sex help exchanges in reading and math classes among third- and fifth-grade boys and girls. Overall, girls were perceived by their classmates to be more academically competent and more likable as helpers than were boys. Nevertheless, girls were not the targets of cross-sex help seeking more than boys were. Both boys and girls sought help more frequently from same-sex than from opposite-sex classmates. When help seeking occurred between opposite-sex classmates, girls were more likely than boys to report liking these helpers as much as their same-sex helpers. The implications of these findings for children's learning and peer status are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in 2- and 3-years-olds: Mother-child relations, peer relations, and peer play.

This paper examines the different behavior patterns utilized by boys and girls as they form peer relationships and engage in peer play; the nature of their relations with their mothers is also reported. Girls manifested more intense involvement with their mothers, engaged in less peer play than boys, showed lower mood, lower levels of play, less direct aggression, and more controlling play with peers. Furthermore, their mothers handled their requests for contact and aggressive behavior differently than did mothers of boys. Boys were slower to become aware of separateness but once aware, they came to terms with it faster than girls. The boys took longer to pay attention to peers; once peers were focused on, the play moved more quickly to high levels than did the play of the girls. Qualitative findings were supported by quantitative findings-boys showed more contact and more involvement with their peers than did girls. The hypothesis is tentatively offered that the reaction to the awareness of psychological separateness from their mothers is more intense in girls than in boys partly because girls experience this awareness earlier, owing to their more rapid cognitive maturation. . . (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' management of preschooler's peer relations: Is it related to children's social competence?

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the relation between parents' efforts to initiate and monitor children's peer contacts and qualities of children's peer relations in nonschool and school settings. Parents of 58 preschool children completed logs of their initiation and monitoring practices and of their children's peer contacts in nonschool settings during late preschool. Parents were classified as high versus low initiators, and direct versus indirect monitorers, depending on the form of management they tended to use for children's peer contacts. Information about children's peer relations in school was obtained through observational, sociometric, and teacher assessments conducted during preschool and kindergarten. Parents who initiated a higher proportion of peer contacts tended to have children who possessed a larger number of different play partners and more consistent companions in nonschool settings. For boys but not girls, higher levels of parental initiation were also associated with greater peer acceptance and lower levels of peer rejection in school. Direct or indirect forms of parental monitoring were unrelated to children's peer relations in nonschool settings, but directive styles were predictive of children's social maladjustment in school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' academic gender stereotypes and education-related beliefs about sons and daughters in African American families.

The role of African American mothers' academic gender stereotype endorsement in shaping achievement-related expectations for and perceptions of their own children was examined. Mothers (N = 334) of 7th and 8th graders completed measures of expectations for their children's future educational attainment, perceptions of their children's academic competence, and academic gender stereotypes. Consistent with hypotheses, mothers held less favorable expectations for sons and perceived sons to be less academically competent than daughters. In addition, mothers reported stereotypes favoring girls over boys in academic domains; stereotype endorsement, in turn, was related to mothers' educational expectations for and beliefs about the academic competence of their own children, even with youths' actual achievement controlled. Negative stereotypes about the academic abilities of African American boys may create a negative feedback loop, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the gender gap in African Americans' educational outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competence and self-esteem during transition from childhood to adolescence.

Change and stability in competence and self-esteem of fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls were examined across a 1-year period, in which approximately one half of the children made the transition from elementary to secondary school (transition groups) and the other half continued in the same school (nontransition groups). Beginning at the end of the school year before transition, the Perceived Competence Scale for Children and the Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Competence were administered at 6-mo intervals. There was no notable transition effect either early or late in the new school year. Overall, children's perceived competence increased and was stable across the 1-year period. Teacher ratings also reflected competence gains for children in nontransition groups; but for children in transition groups they were substantially lower in secondary than in elementary school. The results indicate that entry into secondary school represents significant change from elementary school, but that most children negotiate the transition without undue difficulty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and determinants of sociometric status and friendship choice: A longitudinal perspective.

In a design that combined assessment of short- and long-term stability, 175 boys and 159 girls in the 5th grade were met twice while they were in 5 elementary schools and 3 times after they had entered a single consolidated middle school. At each of these meetings, Ss were asked to nominate 3 same-sex best friends and 3 disliked same-sex peers and to nominate peers for 14 roles in a hypothetical class play. Although there was greater consistency in the Ss' choices of best friends than disliked peers, the stability of acceptance was roughly equal to the stability of rejection. Correction of the test–retest correlations for measurement error indicated that previous studies probably underestimated stability on these measures. Analysis of the association between sociometric measures and social reputation revealed possible causal links between social reputation and subsequent social preference and social impact as assessed by structural equation modeling techniques. No evidence indicated greater consistency of liked and disliked peer choices among girls than among boys, and popularity was only slightly related to consistency in friendship relations. Results indicate that by early adolescence sociometric standing appears to be a relatively stable phenomenon. The need for the assessment of qualitative aspects of friendship relations is stressed. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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

This study examined links between parents' and children's expressed affect during parent–child play and children's social functioning with peers. A total of 116 kindergarten-age children and their parents (114 mothers, 102 fathers) were observed during physical play interactions and were coded on global measures of expressed positive and negative affect. Kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers and peers provided measures of social competence. Latent variable path analysis with partial least squares was used to examine models that included "direct" and "indirect" pathways. Relations between parental positive affect and children's social competence were mediated by children's expressed positive affect. Parental negative affect was associated with negative social outcomes in children; however, these relations were not mediated by children's negative expressions. The strongest support for the hypothesized models was found in same-sex dyads. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of parent involvement in children's schooling.

The authors combined a multilevel model of parental context with a multidimensional conceptualization of parent involvement to examine the factors influencing parents' involvement in their children's schooling. Three sets of factors were identified: parent and child characteristics, family context, and teacher behavior and attitudes. A diverse sample of 209 mothers, their 3rd–5th grade children, and 28 teachers participated. Parents, teachers, and children reported on 3 types of involvement: school, cognitive, and personal. Mothers who felt efficacious, who saw their roles as that of teacher, and who viewed their children as less difficult were more involved in cognitive activities. A difficult context, social support, and teacher attitudes and practices were associated with both school and personal involvement, though some of these relations were moderated by gender with contextual factors affecting involvement of mothers of boys and classroom factors affecting those of girls. The importance of a multilevel approach to increasing parent involvement is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictive value of teachers' ratings of young children.

Assessed the relation of teachers' ratings of young children's abilities, classroom skills, and personal-social characteristics to achievement (Wide Range Achievement Test) in school. Teachers' ratings of 217 children were obtained in the fall and spring of kindergarten and again in 2nd and 3rd grades. By the end of the 3rd grade, 146 children remained in the sample. A total of 63 teachers participated. Predictive validity of the ratings was high for both concurrent and subsequent achievement by the children. The sum of 4 ratings (Effective Learning, Retaining Information, Vocabulary, and Following Instructions) predicted achievement nearly as well as the entire battery of ratings. Average ratings were consistently higher for girls than for boys. Ratings made by mothers were less predictive of scholastic success than ratings made by teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating informal play opportunities: Are parents' and preschoolers' initiations related to children's competence with peers?

Preschoolers' social competence may depend on the frequency with which informal play activities are initiated by parents, children, and playmates. In this study, measures of children's peer relations in informal and school contexts and the frequency of parents', children's, and peers' play initiations were obtained with 83 preschool children and their families on 2 occasions. Frequent parent initiations were associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior, lower levels of nonsocial behavior, and, among boys, greater peer acceptance in preschool. Children who were more initiating of informal peer contacts displayed less anxious behavior in school and were better liked by their classmates. Finally, the degree to which parents involved children in the process of arranging informal play activities was positively related to the frequency with which children initiated their own peer contacts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's emotional competence and attentional competence in early elementary school.

The current study examined the relations between two aspects of emotional competence--emotion knowledge and emotion expression, and children's attentional competence during one school year. Participants were 263 first- and second-grade students at two rural elementary schools. A multiple regression analysis showed that emotion knowledge predicted attentional competence while controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, and initial levels of attentional competence. Multiple regression analyses examining predictors of peer nominations of emotion expression showed that attentional competence predicted peer nominations of happiness, sadness, and anger expression, and emotion knowledge predicted peer nominations of anger expression. Potential improvements for prevention programs and the importance of the findings for school personnel are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure of peer impressions of children's competence: Validation of the peer nomination of multiple competencies.

A peer-nomination assessment of 5 domains of children's competencies (scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical attractiveness, and behavioral conduct) was administered to 1,249 elementary school students (aged 9–12 yrs). Factor analysis revealed 2 positive factors and 2 negative factors. The negative factors differed notably in content from girls to boys. Evidence of convergent validity was derived from the regression of these factors onto teachers' ratings and children's self-reports. Evidence of construct validity emerged from regressions between these factors and self-reported depression, hopelessness, loneliness, and misbehavior. Results revealed the structure of peers' perceptions of children's competence and justified the use of the Peer Nomination of Multiple Competencies to complement self-report, teacher rating, standardized test, and behavioral observation measures of children's competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)