A cognitive-social learning approach to social skill training with low-status preschool children.

Changes in the behavior and peer acceptance of low-status preschool children as a result of social skill training were examined. Children who had low sociometric status and were also low in classroom use of social skills were randomly assigned to a skill training group (n?=?18) or to an attention control group (n?=?15). Children in the training group were coached in 4 skills: leading peers, asking questions of peers, making comments to peers, and supporting peers. Trained children showed a significant increase in their use of the trained skills comments and leads from pretest to posttest, whereas control-group children showed no change. Neither control nor skill-trained children changed significantly on sociometric measures from pretest to posttest. Increases in skill use in the classroom with peers was correlated with improvements in children's knowledge of friendly social strategies from pre- to posttest. Results are interpreted as evidence of a social skill basis for peer acceptance and of the need to develop procedures to assess the mechanisms of change during social skills training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reliable sociometric measure for preschool children.

Examined the reliability of a rating-scale sociometric technique with 19 4-yr-old children. The test–retest reliability of scores Ss received over a 4-wk interval was high compared to the stability of the traditional positive and negative nomination scores. This preschool sociometric measure has applications for the study of the behavioral correlates of early peer acceptance and for research on the effects of social skill training on children's acceptance by peers. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropharmacology of St. John''s Wort (Hypericum)

OBJECTIVE: A developmental-ecological model was used to explore the psychological adjustment and peer social competencies of maltreated preschool children. METHOD: Enhanced research methods were used that included verification of maltreatment status, multiple-variable matching of comparison children, and contextually relevant assessment. One hundred eight Head Start children, of whom 54 were maltreated, participated. Assessment of social functioning included measurement of peer play interactions, global social skills, peer sociometrics, and teacher and parent ratings of behavior problems. RESULTS: Findings indicated that maltreated children were significantly less interactive in peer play and overall exhibited less self-control and interpersonal skill in social interactions than nonmaltreated children. In addition, maltreated children were more likely than their nonmaltreated peers to receive low sociometric ratings and were found by both teachers and parents to display more internalizing behavior problems than comparison children. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate the importance of using developmentally sensitive research methods to inform contextually relevant interventions.     

Attention structure, sociometric status, and dominance: Interrelations, behavioral correlates, and relationships to social competence.

To evaluate the interrelationships and external correlates of 3 potential measures of social competence (SC), a preschool class of 22 4-yr-olds was observed during free play throughout 1 school year. Ranks based on distribution of visual regard among peers, sociometric scores, and competitive dominance interactions were derived from data collected during each term. In addition, observations of play behavior and of aggression were collected throughout the year. Attention rank and sociometric scores were highly correlated and were substantially stable across terms. Dominance was not strongly related to attention rank or to sociometric scores and was less stable across time. The stability of the play and aggression data varied from category to category as did relationships between these categories and the status measures. Evidence demonstrates that attention rank is related to SC and is not a function of disruptive behavior, activity level, or proximity to adults. A relationship was also found between visual regard among peers and the social structure of the preschool play group. It is suggested that SC, broadly conceived, is a more salient basis for social organization among preschool peers than either the distribution of attention per se or competition/dominance relationships. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical issues in sociometric testing: Impact of sociometric measures on interaction behavior.

Examined the immediate and long-term effects of sociometric testing on preschool children's peer interactions. Positive and negative nomination as well as rating-scale sociometric measures were administered individually to 27 children (aged 3 yrs 1 mo to 5 yrs) from 2 preschool classrooms. Behavioral observations of peer interaction were conducted in the weeks before and after sociometric testing as well as during the 10 min immediately following testing. Behavior was recorded in terms of the initiator and recipient of the interaction as well as the affective quality of the initiation and response. Results indicate that although Ss make more positive initiations and responses to most-preferred peers than to least-preferred peers, they did not differ in the frequency of negative initiations or responses made to most- vs least-preferred peers as a function of sociometric testing. Thus, sociometric testing did not appear to adversely influence Ss' peer interactions. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer-related social interactions of developmentally delayed young children: Development and characteristics.

Conducted a short-term longitudinal study of the peer-related social interactions of 111 developmentally delayed toddler and preschool age children. Initial analyses centered on 2 groups: one composed of younger and more severely delayed children (aged 1.8–6.6 yrs) and the other consisting of older and more mildly delayed children (aged 2.4–6.8 yrs). Observers coded a wide range of social and play behaviors during free-play interactions in individual classrooms, including ratings of social participation, constructiveness of play, and teacher behavior, as well as a series of sequential interactive measures. Similarities to normally developing children in the organization and developmental progression of peer interactions across the short term were noted for each of the groups. However, comparisons to normative expectations for preschool age children in relation to Ss' cognitive levels and cross-sectional analyses across CA suggested the existence of unusually marked deficits in peer interactions. These deficits may simply be a manifestation of a more basic and generalized social interaction deficit, or they may be related to the cognitive level-expressive language discrepancy characteristic of such children, or they may be due to the fact that such children are usually surrounded by other children with substantial deficits. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Statut auprès des pairs et comportement social à la maternelle: profils individuels et dyadiques.

Studied the relationship among peer status, behavior, and dyadic coordination of social behavior in kindergartners. Human subjects: 99 male and female Canadian preschool children (mean age 68.5 mo) (kindergarten students). Peer status was determined by showing each S a series of color photographs of each student in the class and asking 3 negative and 3 positive questions concerning which of the students the S would like to participate with in a variety of activities. Peer status was calculated using J. D. Coie's and K. A. Dodge's rejection–acceptance–social preference method (1983). Behavioral profiles and the distribution of dyadic affiliative or agonistic interactions were determined during focal sampling observation periods. The results were analyzed according to each S's sex, popularity status, type of dyadic interactions, and social composition of dyads. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) and other statistical tests were used. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in interpersonal distances and categories of play behavior in the early weeks of preschool.

Observations of 57 children were made using time lapse and moving film techniques in a preschool over a 10-wk period. Ss attended 5, 3, or 2 days/wk. Behavior was recorded in 5 categories: aggressive behavior, rough and tumble behavior, distance from the nearest child, distance from the teacher, and frequency of close proximity; a 6th category, play behavior, was related to the potential for social interaction in preschool play. Behavior was related to measures of attendance at preschool, preschool group, age, and sex via multiple regression analyses. Scores on all measures of social interaction except aggressive behavior increased with preschool experience. The 3 preschool groups showed different degrees of change, and this was directly related to the number of days of attendance at preschool. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural differences in Korean- and Anglo-American preschoolers' social interaction and play behaviors

48 Korean- and 48 Anglo-American children were observed in their preschool settings to examine the role of culture in organizing children's activities and in shaping their pretend play behavior. Observes recorded the presence or absence of preselected social behaviors and levels of play complexity. Parents completed a questionnaire about play in the home, teachers rated children's social competence, and children were given the PPVT-R and a sociometric interview. Korean parents completed an acculturation questionnaire. The findings revealed cultural differences in children's social interaction, play complexity, adult-child interaction and play in the home and in the preschool, adult beliefs about play, scores on the PPVT-R, and children's social functioning with peers. The results suggest that children's social interaction and pretend play behavior are influenced by culture-specific socialization practices that serve adaptive functions.     

Predicting preschoolers' peer behavior and status from their interpersonal strategies: A comparison of verbal and enactive responses to hypothetical social dilemmas.

The purposes of this study were (a) to compare a verbal and an enactive procedure for assessing preschool children's social strategies in hypothetical situations in terms of their ability to predict social behavior with peers and peer acceptance and (b) to examine some of the psychometric properties of the two assessment methods. Children's responses to a set of hypothetical social situations were elicited both with puppets and props (enactive assessment) and with a set of pictures (verbal assessment). The responses were rated in terms of their friendliness and assertiveness. Enactive friendliness ratings contributed significantly to regression equations predicting teacher and observer ratings of prosocial and aggressive behavior but not to peer group acceptance, whereas the verbal method contributed little predictive power beyond that provided by the enactive ratings. Implications for social skill assessment and intervention with children are discussed. (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)     

Acquisition of sex-typed preferences in preschool-aged children.

Assessed a total of 119 preschool children with the Sex Role Learning Index (SERLI), a picture-choice instrument designed to compare children's preferences to both sex role stereotypes and each child's conception of what is sex appropriate. Boys showed higher masculine preferences in the section depicting child figures than in the section depicting adult figures, while girls showed more feminine preferences in the adult figures than child figures section. Boys were more masculine in their preferences than girls were feminine in the child figures section, but not in the adult figures section. Girls were also found to adhere more to their own conceptions of what is sex appropriate than to sex role stereotypes in the child figures section. Boy's scores in the adult figures section correlated significantly with MA and IQ, while girls' scores in the child figures section correlated with CA. Boys' scores on the SERLI were significantly correlated with scores on the It Scale for Children, but girls' scores were not. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' stressful life events and social networks: Relations with parenting and children's competence.

Explored relations between parents' stressful life events and social networks, parent–child interactions, and children's competence in preschool, in 30 normally functioning, 2-parent families. Family interactions were assessed by home observations, observer ratings, and parent self-reports; children's competence in preschool was assessed by teacher ratings. Stress was not strongly linked with parenting, although loss (deaths of relatives and friends) was associated across methods with decreased warmth for both parents. Structural and functional differences emerged for social support from spouse, kin, and friends. Aspects of mothers' and fathers' social networks were associated with the others' parenting. Partial correlation analyses were consistent with the view that effects of parental stress on child behavior were mediated by parent–child interactions, while social networks influenced children directly. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of social status among mainstreamed mentally retarded children.

Explored the relative contributions of misbehavior, academic incompetence, and exposure to nonretarded children to the explanation of retarded children's sociometric status. Teachers and peers rated retarded children on the dimensions of misbehavior and academic performance. The results indicate that perceived academic incompetence was associated with educable mentally retarded children's level of social acceptance, whereas perceived misbehavior was associated with retarded children's social rejection by peers. Amount of exposure to nonretarded children did not relate significantly to retarded children's social status. The data are discussed in terms of the assumptions underlying the mainstreaming of retarded children into regular classes. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among parental acceptance and control and children’s social adjustment in Chinese American and European American families.

Parental acceptance and control are the 2 dimensions of parenting that have been investigated most; however, little is known about their cross-cultural expressions. This longitudinal study examined acceptance, control, and R. Chao’s indigenous Chinese notion of control—chiao shun (training)—in 35 immigrant Chinese American (CA) and 38 European American (EA) families. Data were collected when children were in preschool and kindergarten (T1); first and second grades (T2); and third and fourth grades (T3). Within couples, CA mothers and fathers reported similar levels of acceptance and control, whereas EA mothers and fathers did not. CA fathers’ and mothers’ and EA mothers’ acceptance and control exerted a positive influence on their children’s psychological adjustment. CA fathers’ training negatively predicted their children’s problem behaviors 4 years later. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness as a correlate of peer status and social competence in preschool children.

The physical attractiveness of 59 preschoolers (aged 4 yrs 8 mo to 5 yrs 7 mo) was rated by 77 undergraduates. Two measures of social competence, sociometric status and rank in an attention structure, were also obtained. Rank-order correlations among the 3 measures indicated that physical attractiveness was a significant correlate of sociometric rank but not of attention rank. Sociometric and attention ranks were also significantly interrelated. The relationship between attractiveness and sociometric status was stronger for girls than for boys, and attractiveness was not significantly related to attention rank. Partial correlation analyses indicated that attractiveness did not mediate the relationship between attention and sociometric rank. Results suggest that sociometric data may be influenced by variables such as physical attractiveness that are not necessarily related to social competence. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral reasoning, classroom behavior, and sociometric status among elementary school children.

Relations among moral reasoning, classroom behavior, and sociometric status were investigated in a sample of 133 2nd and 3rd graders. It was hypothesized that hedonistic and needs-oriented moral reasoning, 2 forms of L. Kohlberg's (1984) Stage 2 moral reasoning, would be differentially related to teachers' ratings of classroom behavior and to sociometric status. Among boys, hedonistic moral reasoning was associated with the lack of social competencies, acting-out behavior, and low social preference. In addition to influencing sociometric status indirectly through social behavior, moral reasoning was found to explain variance in sociometric status not accounted for by either acting out or social competencies. Results support N. Eisenberg's (1986) claim that hedonistic and needs-oriented reasoning are qualitatively distinct. Although both forms of reasoning characterize Kohlberg's Stage 2, it is hedonistic reasoning, not needs-oriented reasoning, that appears to be associated with poor social behavior and, in turn, low sociometric status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of social competence in preschoolers: Teachers versus peers.

The predictive validity and the reliability of a teacher-based ranking method of assessing popularity were compared with those of the traditional picture sociometric approach. In each of 2 studies, both popularity measures were administered in several day-care classrooms with a total of 187 Ss (aged 31–64 mo). Behavioral observations of social interaction and teacher ratings of social competence were also collected. Very high reliability estimates were obtained for the teacher popularity measure, with lower estimates obtained for the picture sociometric measure. When validated relative to the social competence ratings and behavioral observations, the teacher popularity measure was a more effective predictor. With age effects partialed out, teacher popularity entered the equation prior to sociometric popularity and was a significant predictor of social competence. The sociometric popularity measure did not significantly improve this prediction. Findings support the use of teacher rankings of popularity as a measure of social competence in the preschool. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social functioning and adjustment in Canadian-born children with Chinese and European backgrounds.

The purpose of the study was to examine social functioning and adjustment in peer context in Chinese Canadian and European Canadian children. A sample of elementary school children participated in the study. Data on social functioning, peer acceptance and rejection, and victimization were collected from peer assessments and sociometric nominations. The results indicated that Chinese Canadian children were viewed by peers as less aggressive-disruptive than European Canadian children. Chinese Canadian girls, but not boys, were more shy-sensitive than their European Canadian counterparts. Sociability was associated with peer acceptance, whereas aggression was associated with peer rejection and victimization. Shyness was associated with peer relationship difficulties more evidently in European Canadian children than in Chinese Canadian children. These results indicate the relevance of ethnic background to children's peer social experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)