Reflected self-appraisals: Strength and structure of the relation of teacher, peer, and parent ratings to children's self-perceived competencies.

The authors obtained teacher, parent, peer, and self-ratings of social acceptance, academic competence, athletic competence, physical appearance, and behavioral conduct on 463 3rd- and 434 6th-grade girls and boys. Multivariate estimates of the relation between self- and others' reports were substantially larger than have previously been found with univariate tests. Interbattery factor analyses revealed evidence of domain specificity; that is, others' appraisals in 1 domain tended to be most strongly related to self-appraisals in the same domain. Analyses also revealed evidence of cross-domain relations, others' appraisals in 1 domain were sometimes related to self-appraisals in different domains. The strength and structure of these relations varied with children's gender, children's grade level, and informant type. The complexity of the relation between self- and others' evaluations has implications for future tests of the reflected self-appraisal process and for school-based programs for enhancing children's self-concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent styles associated with children's self-regulation and competence in school.

This study assessed three dimensions of parent style, autonomy support, involvement, and provision of structure in 64 mothers and 50 fathers of elementary-school children in Grades 3–6, using a structured interview. Construct validity data for the interview ratings suggested that the three parent dimensions were reliable, relatively independent, and correlated with other parent measures in hypothesized ways. Aspects of children's self-regulation and competence were measured through children's reports, teacher ratings, and objective indices. Parental autonomy support was positively related to children's self-reports of autonomous self-regulation, teacher-rated competence and adjustment, and school grades and achievement. Maternal involvement was related to achievement, teacher-rated competence, and some aspects of behavioral adjustment, but no significant relations were obtained for father involvement. The structure dimension was primarily related to children's control understanding. Results are discussed in terms of the motivational impact of the parent on school competence and adjustment and in terms of transactional models of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Profiles of peer competence in the preschool: Interrelations between measures, influence of social ecology, and relation to attachment history.

40 4–5 yr old first born Ss in 2 preschool groups, differing markedly in terms of classroom ecology, were observed throughout a school year. Peer competence was assessed via teacher rankings of social competence, peer sociometrics, and behavioral measures of social participation, attention structure, and social dominance. Rates of positive and negative affect, affiliation, leadership, assertiveness, and aggression were also recorded. Results show that individual rates of affective expression and social behavior were temporally stable and consistent across contexts for both classes. Teacher judgments and peer sociometrics were more robust with respect to the behavioral ecologies of the 2 classes and most consistently related to external criteria. Two dimensions of peer competence were evident: (1) an affiliative dimension characterized by emotional warmth, social maturity, and peer popularity and (2) a power dimension involving positive and negative affect and high peer status. Ss with secure attachment histories were higher on affiliative dimension, while anxious-resistant Ss were lowest in peer status. Definitions of behavior and response categories are appended. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of young children's reading self-concepts: An examination of emerging subcomponents and their relationship with reading achievement.

Development of reading self-concept in young children was examined in 4 experiments. Experiment 1 revealed a negative item response phenomenon similar to that reported by H. W. Marsh (see record 1986-11523-001), who found that children's responses to negative items on a self-concept scale were inconsistent with their responses to positive items. In Experiment 2, developmental psycholinguistic factors were considered in an effort to eliminate the negative item response phenomenon by changing the wording and presentation of the items. Experiment 3 suggested that reading self-concept may be defined as comprising three subcomponents: perceptions of competence in reading, perceptions of difficulty with reading, and attitudes toward reading. Experiment 4 showed how the relations among these subcomponents change with increasing age and how they relate to the development of reading and reading-related skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment and representations of peer relationships.

Three studies explored the connection between attachment and peer-related representations. Children heard stories in which a peer with ambiguous intent caused a negative event. Study 1 examined three aspects of peer-related representations in 3.5-yr-olds: representations of (1) peer intent, (2) behavioral responses to the event, and (3) peer feelings. Children's representations of the mother's response to the event were also examined. Study 2 examined the connection between attachment and the same aspects of peer-related representations in kindergarten and 1st-grade children. The proposition implicit in attachment theory that it is children's representations of peer relationships that in part account for the connection between child–parent attachment and relations with peers was also tested. Study 3 focused on representations of peer intent in connection with self-reported maternal and paternal rejection in 5th graders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' supervision of their children's peer play: Relations with beliefs, perceptions, and knowledge.

Mothers (N?=?76) of 3- to 5-year-old children completed questionnaires assessing beliefs in the importance and modifiability (vs. innateness) of children's peer relationship skills, perceptions of their children's social competence with peers, and strategies they would use in response to children's peer interaction problems. A subsample of mothers (n?=?34) was observed supervising the play of their own children and a peer. Maternal perceptions of children's competence were negatively associated with the extent of mothers' involvement in children's play, whereas the quality of supervision was predicted by knowledge of socialization strategies and the interaction of beliefs and knowledge. Beliefs appeared to moderate the effects of maternal knowledge on mothers' behavior in that knowledge was associated with the quality of supervision only when mothers believed social skills were important and modifiable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's peer selection: Experimental examination of the role of self-perceptions.

Although previous studies have examined characteristics of children selected as friends, little research has examined the role played by characteristics of the selecting child. In 2 experimental studies that examined the role of self-perceptions in peer selection, participants (91 seventh graders in Study 1 and 83 third graders in Study 2) viewed various evaluations of themselves. Participants either believed evaluations were written by unfamiliar peers (Study 1) or were asked to imagine that the views of puppets were views of unfamiliar peers (Study 2). Participants were asked to select the pees they wished to meet and interact with. When evaluations were related to specific competence domains, 7th graders preferred positive peers to negative peers, whereas 3rd graders selected peers who viewed them as they viewed themselves. When evaluations were related to global self-worth, children's selections were unrelated to views of their own global worth. Selection of a globally negative peer was associated with attachment-insecurity/maternal-rejection and depressive symptoms. (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)     

The relations of temperamental effortful control and anger/frustration to Chinese children's academic achievement and social adjustment: A longitudinal study.

The prospective relations of temperamental effortful control and anger/frustration to Chinese children's (N = 425, age range = 6.6–9.1 years) academic achievement (grade point average, or GPA) and social adjustment (externalizing problems and social competence) were examined in a 2-wave (3.8 years apart) longitudinal study. Parents and teachers rated children's temperament, and parents, teachers, and/or peers rated children's externalizing problems and social competence. Effortful control positively predicted children's GPA, controlling for prior level of GPA. Analyses examining the potential mechanisms underlying the temperament–achievement associations suggested that effortful control positively predicted social competence, and social competence positively predicted GPA. Moreover, anger/frustration positively predicted externalizing problems, and externalizing problems negatively predicted GPA. Mediational analyses suggested that the relations between temperament and GPA were mediated by social competence and externalizing problems. Evidence for the reciprocal relations between externalizing problems and GPA was also found. The study suggested that there are complex interplays among temperament, academic achievement, and social adjustment for school-age children. (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)     

Are the discrepancies between self- and others' appraisals of competence predictive or reflective of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: A longitudinal study, part II.

Two cohorts of children and adolescents (who started 6th grade in 1993 and 1996), parents, teachers, and peers participated in a 4-wave, 2-yr, longitudinal study of perceived competence and depressive symptoms. The authors assessed children's tendencies to underestimate their competence (discrepant self-appraisals) relative to the appraisals of significant others. We also assessed the degree to which self-appraisals reflected the evaluations of others (reflective self-appraisals). Domains of competence were academic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, social acceptance, and athletic competence. Cross-sectional analyses indicated that depressive symptoms correlated with reflective and discrepant self-appraisals. Longitudinal analyses revealed that reflective and discrepant self-appraisals predicted subsequent depressive symptoms and that depressive symptoms predicted discrepant but not reflective self-appraisals. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation and its effects on mood improvement in response to an in vivo peer rejection challenge.

This study examined children's spontaneous use of behavioral emotion regulation (ER) strategies and their effects on subsequent mood change in response to an in vivo peer rejection manipulation. Participants (N = 186), ranging between 10 and 13 years of age, played a computer game based on the television show Survivor and were randomized to either peer rejection (being voted out of the game) or nonrejection control. In response to rejection, more than one third of the participants (38%) displayed a marked worsening (i.e., reliable change) in state mood. After receiving feedback, time spent on several behavioral ER strategies during a 5-minute postfeedback period was assessed. At the end of the postfeedback period, children's cognitive activity was also assessed. More time spent on behavioral distraction was positively linked to subsequent increases in positive affect, whereas the reverse pattern was found for disengagement/passive behavior. Moreover, higher endorsement ratings for the strategy of "cognitive analysis" were associated with stronger increases in negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive and negative emotionality: Trajectories across six years and relations with social competence.

The goals of the present study were to examine (1) the mean-level stability and differential stability of children's positive emotional intensity, negative emotional intensity, expressivity, and social competence from early elementary school-aged to early adolescence, and (2) the associations between the trajectories of children's emotionality and social functioning. Using four waves of longitudinal data (with assessments 2 years apart), parents and teachers of children (199 kindergarten through third grade children at the first assessment) rated children's emotion-related responding and social competence. For all constructs, there was evidence of mean-level decline with age and stability in individual differences in rank ordering. Based on age-centered growth-to-growth curve analyses, the results indicated that children who had a higher initial status on positive emotional intensity, negative emotional intensity, and expressivity had a steeper decline in their social skills across time. These findings provide insight into the stability and association of emotion-related constructs to social competence across the elementary and middle school years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Executive functions and social competence in young children 6 months following traumatic brain injury.

Objective: This study examined the impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children on executive functions and social competence, and particularly on the role of executive functions as a predictor of social competence. Method: Data were drawn from a prospective, longitudinal study. Participants were children between the ages of 3 years 0 months and 6 years 11 months at time of injury. The initial sample included 23 with severe TBI, 64 with moderate TBI, and 119 with orthopedic injuries (OI). All participants were assessed at 3 and 6 months postinjury. Executive functions were assessed using neuropsychological tests (Delayed Alternation task and Shape School) and parent ratings on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function and Child Behavior Questionnaire. Parents rated children's social competence on the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales, and Home and Community Social Behavior Scales. Results: Children with severe TBI displayed more negative outcomes than children with OI on neuropsychological tests, ratings of executive functions, and ratings of social competence (η2 ranged from .03 to .11). Neuropsychological tests of executive functions had significant but weak relationships with behavioral ratings of executive functions (ΔR2 ranged from .06 to .08). Behavioral ratings of executive functions were strongly related to social competence (ΔR2 ranged from .32 to .42), although shared rater and method variance likely contributed to these associations. Conclusions: Severe TBI in young children negatively impacts executive functions and social competence. Executive functions may be an important determinant of social competence following TBI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting changes in children's self-perceptions of academic competence: A naturalistic examination of evaluative discourse among classmates.

Classroom discourse was examined as a predictor of changes in children's beliefs about their academic capabilities. Kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students (N=106) participated in 2 waves of data collection, approximately 1 year apart. During the 1st year of the study, children's verbal interactions with their classmates were observed and recorded. Children rated their self-perceptions of academic competence during the 1st and 2nd years. Analyses revealed that changes over time in children's competence perceptions could be predicted from the types of statements that children made and had directed toward them by classmates. Examining sequences of child and classmate statements proved helpful in explaining the observed changes in children's perceptions of competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Child Behavior Scale: A teacher-report measure of young children's aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behaviors.

Few instruments provide reliable, valid data on peer-behavioral indicators of risk and competence in young children. The authors developed a teacher-report measure of young children's behavior with peers at school—the Child Behavior Scale (CBS)—and evaluated its reliability and validity. Data were gathered on 2 cohorts (n?=?206 per cohort) of 5- to 6-year-old children; teachers rated children on Aggressive With Peers, Prosocial With Peers, Asocial With Peers, Excluded by Peers, Anxious–Fearful, and Hyperactive–Distractible subscales twice during the school year. Scores were internally consistent, distinct, and relatively stable over time. The validation paradigm produced a network of correlations that was, overall, consistent with the hypothesized conceptual structure of the CBS. These findings replicated across cohorts and provide sufficient evidence of the reliability and validity of the CBS to recommend its use for behavioral assessment with young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother's emotional expressivity and children's behavior problems and social competence: Mediation through children's regulation.

The relations between mothers' expressed positive and negative emotion and 55–79-month-olds' (76% European American) regulation, social competence, and adjustment were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to test the plausibility of the hypothesis that the effects of maternal expression of emotion on children's adjustment and social competence are mediated through children's dispositional regulation. Mothers' expressed emotions were assessed during interactions with their children and with maternal reports of emotions expressed in the family. Children's regulation, externalizing and internalizing problems, and social competence were rated by parents and teachers, and children's persistence was surreptitiously observed. There were unique effects of positive and negative maternal expressed emotion on children's regulation, and the relations of maternal expressed emotion to children's externalizing problem behaviors and social competence were mediated through children's regulation. Alternative models of causation were tested; a child-directed model in which maternal expressivity mediated the effects of child regulation on child outcomes did not fit the data as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intimate partner violence and children's reaction to peer provocation: The moderating role of emotion coaching.

The current study examined the relation between intimate partner violence (IPV) and children's reactions to a stressful peer interaction in a community-based sample. The moderating role of parental emotion coaching in buffering children from negative reactions to a peer was also examined. Children participated in a peer provocation paradigm and mothers completed the Parent Meta-Emotion Interview. Both adaptive (i.e., laughing, ignoring) and maladaptive (i.e., hostile/challenging, odd behaviors) reactions to the provocative peer were examined. IPV was positively related to children's laughing and odd behaviors but was unrelated to ignoring and hostile/challenging behaviors. Additionally, emotion coaching was found to moderate relations between IPV and children's laughing and odd behaviors. The importance of understanding protective factors in families experiencing IPV and of developing emotion coaching parenting programs is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early school competence: The roles of sex-segregated play and effortful control.

The purpose of this research was to examine the role that young children's same-sex peer interactions play in influencing early school competence. The authors also examined the degree to which effortful control (EC) moderated these relations. The same-sex play preferences of 98 young children (50 boys and 48 girls; mean age = 54.77 months) were observed during the fall semester. At the end of the fall semester, one set of teachers reported on children's EC, and at the end of the following spring semester, another set reported on children's school competence (social, academic, and perceptual-motor). Results revealed that EC moderated the relations of children's same-sex play to their school competence. These patterns differed for boys and girls such that same-sex play was positively related to school outcomes for boys high in EC and for girls low in EC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation as a mediator of associations between mother–child attachment and peer relationships in middle childhood.

Although a link between attachment and peer relationships has been established, the mechanisms that account for this link have not been identified. The 1st goal of this study was to test emotion regulation as a mediator of this link in middle childhood. The 2nd goal was to examine how different aspects of emotion regulation relate to peer competence. Fifth graders completed self-report and semiprojective measures to index mother–child attachment, mothers reported on children's emotionality and coping strategies, and teachers reported on children's peer competence. Constructive coping was related to both attachment and peer competence, and mediated the association between attachment and peer competence, suggesting that emotion regulation is one of the mechanisms accounting for attachment-peer links. Constructive coping was more strongly associated with peer competence for children high on negative emotionality than for children low on negative emotionality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)