Factors governing the effective remediation of negative affect and its cognitive and behavioral consequences.

Tested the hypothesis that the remediation of negative emotion will be most effective when the remedial procedure matches the experience or cognition that induced the negative state. Negative emotional states were induced in 150 2nd-grade children by 1 of 4 processes, all of which involved social rejection content: cognition that focused on (a) thinking about oneself being rejected by a peer or (b) thinking about a peer being rejected; or experience that related to (c) actually being socially rejected or (d) seeing a peer be socially rejected. These inductions were followed by a positive remedial induction whose content was the reverse (social acceptance) and whose process did or did not match that of the negative induction. Results indicate that, except for negative self-cognitions, the behavioral (altruism) and cognitive (performance on a block design task) consequences of negative emotion were alleviated when the positive remediation was of the same type as the original induction. Emotional expressions were consistently positive following remediation, regardless of their type. Results are discussed in terms of differing processes for maintaining negative emotion as a function of the character of induction, and the implications for the understanding of clinical depression in children are noted. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heterogeneity among peer-rejected boys across middle childhood: Developmental pathways of social behavior.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to identify subgroups of rejected boys with different developmental pathways of aggression and prosocial behavior across the elementary school years. Peer, teacher, and parent reports and behavior observations yielded composite scores for aggression and prosocial behavior at 3 measurement waves. A cluster analysis with these composites on 87 initially rejected boys identified 4 subgroups with different developmental pathways of prosocial behavior and aggression that were associated with different patterns of sociometric acceptance and rejection over time and with social emotional adjustment in the last measurement wave. Changes in acceptance and rejection tend to precede changes in aggression and prosocial behavior. Cluster differences on social emotional adjustment indicators converged into 1 moderately discriminating factor, Social Maladaptation in Peer-Oriented Behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rejected Bullies or Popular Leaders? The Social Relations of Aggressive Subtypes of Rural African American Early Adolescents.

Teacher assessments of interpersonal characteristics were used to identify subtypes of rural African American early adolescents (161 boys and 258 girls). Teacher ratings of interpersonal characteristics were used to identify popular and unpopular aggressive subtypes for both boys and girls. Unpopular aggressive youths did not have elevated levels of rejected sociometric status but were more likely to have lower levels of peer-perceived social prominence and social skills. Conversely, popular aggressive youths were more likely to be disliked by peers even though they were perceived by peers as socially prominent and socially skilled and were identified by teachers as highly involved in extracurricular activities. Both popular and unpopular aggressive youths tended to associate with others who had similar levels of peer-perceived popularity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer Academic Reputation in Elementary School: Associations With Changes in Self-Concept and Academic Skills.

The developmental significance of children's academic reputation among peers was examined in a longitudinal study of 400 children in Grades 3, 4, and 5. In the fall of Year 1, teachers rated children's academic skills and behavior, and peers provided nominations describing classmates' academic skills, social acceptance versus rejection, and aggressive behavior. In the fall and spring of Year 1, children provided reports of their academic self-concept, social self-concept, and global self-worth. In the fall of Year 2, teachers rated children's academic skills. Results indicated that 4 items assessing peer academic reputation formed an internally consistent scale that was correlated moderately and distinctively with teacher-rated academic skills. Peer academic reputation and teacher-rated academic skills each contributed independently to the prediction of fall-to-spring changes in children's academic self-concept. Peer academic reputation and academic self-concept contributed uniquely to the prediction of changes in teacher-rated academic effort and skills over a 1-year period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social-emotional behavior of preschool-age children with and without developmental delays

Differences in parent and teacher ratings of social-emotional behavior among young children with developmental delays and those without significant developmental problems were examined. Participants included 198 preschool-age children identified as having a developmental delay (DD group) and 198 preschool-age children without significant developmental problems (Comparison group) who were matched to the DD group by age and gender, using a randomized block procedure. Parent and teacher perceptions of social-emotional behavior of the participants were assessed using the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS), a social skills and problem behavior rating scale for the use with young children. PKBS scores were found to classify the participants into their respective groups with a substantial degree of accuracy. Statistically significant differences in social skills and problem behavior scores between the two groups were found, with the DD participants evidencing greater social skills deficits and problem behavior excesses than the Comparison group. Individuals in the DD group were found to be four to five times more likely to have significant social skills deficits and problem behavior excesses than individuals in the Comparison group. The critical social-emotional behaviors separating the two groups appeared to be social interaction and independence skills, and socially withdrawn and isolated behavior patterns. New validity evidence for the PKBS is discussed, as are future needs pertaining to research and clinical practice in the area of social-emotional behavior of young children with developmental delays.     

It's the thought that counts: The role of hostile cognition in shaping aggressive responses to social exclusion.

Prior research has confirmed a casual path between social rejection and aggression, but there has been no clear explanation of why social rejection causes aggression. A series of experiments tested the hypothesis that social exclusion increases the inclination to perceive neutral information as hostile, which has implications for aggression. Compared to accepted and control participants, socially excluded participants were more likely to rate aggressive and ambiguous words as similar (Experiment 1a), to complete word fragments with aggressive words (Experiment 1b), and to rate the ambiguous actions of another person as hostile (Experiments 2-4). This hostile cognitive bias among excluded people was related to their aggressive treatment of others who were not involved in the exclusion experience (Experiments 2 and 3) and others with whom participants had no previous contact (Experiment 4). These findings provide a first step in resolving the mystery of why social exclusion produces aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer rejection as antecedent of young children's school adjustment: An examination of mediating processes.

Ashort-term longitudinal design (N?=?399) was used to examine peer relations processes that may mediate the relation between peer rejection and children's emotional and academic adjustment during kindergarten. These proposed mediating processes extend the current literature by explicating behavioral pathways via which the attitudinal construct of peer rejection may affect adjustment outcomes. Structural equation modeling results supported the hypothesis that negative peer treatment (e.g., victimization, refusal of peer group entry bids, and exclusion from peer activities) and classroom participation partially mediate the relationship between rejection and adjustment outcomes. Rejected children were more likely to experience negative peer treatment, more likely to show decreases in classroom participation, and more likely to report loneliness, to express a desire to avoid school, and to perform less well on achievement measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Discovering connections: A guide to the fun of bridging disability differences and Connecting kids: Exploring diversity together.

Reviews the books, Discovering connections: A guide to the fun bridging disability differences (1998) and Connecting kids: Exploring diversity together by Linda D. Hill (2001). These two books share a common theme: both provide practical solutions for bridging diversity gaps. The books are meant for anyone who wants to build inclusive groups of adults or children - professionals, volunteers, parents, people with disabilities, and family members and friends of people with disabilities. Discovering Connections provides a template to facilitate a group of adults from diverse backgrounds in the formation of an inclusive, cohesive group. There are 20 sessions organized around 10 themes, each with an armchair activity and a community connection idea. Each theme, in turn, is linked to two connecting skills. Connecting Kids is a "travel guide" for increasing diversity in children's groups. A set of 20 skills is presented, along with activity suggestions for cooperative games, creative activities, and nature experiences. These activities are designed to build social skills within a safe, inclusive environment and to help children respect and value individual differences. Those who are searching for practical suggestions and activities for creating inclusive groups of adults or children will likely find these books a useful addition to their resource library. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social adjustment of children with and without learning disabilities in integrated classrooms.

The social adjustment of 46 children with learning disabilities (LDs) and 199 children without LDs who were integrated full-time in 3rd-grade classrooms was examined. No differences were found in the proportions of children with LDs and without LDs across accepted and unpopular sociometric groups. Two thirds of children with LDs had at least 1 reciprocal friend, and more than half had a friendship with a classmate without LDs. Girls with LDs received the highest number of negative nominations and were the least preferred. Group comparisons of socially adjusted and nonadjusted children, with and without LDs, showed that teachers perceived the socially adjusted children with LDs to be less socially and academically competent than adjusted children with LDs. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of educational setting and classroom composition on children's social adjustment. (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)     

Multiple perspectives of rejected, neglected, and accepted children: Relation between sociometric status and behavioral characteristics.

Hypothesized, on the basis of findings from several studies, that rejected children are more disruptive, aggressive, and socially inappropriate than are their classmates. Three groups of 39 rejected, 29 neglected, and 39 accepted children were randomly selected from 282 boys and 210 girls who were identified separately on the basis of sociometric scores for 492 children in Grades 3–6. The 3 groups were compared using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) on measures from 4 domains: peer behavioral attributions, teacher ratings, analog assertiveness task, and self-evaluation. Rejected Ss were clearly distinguished from their same-sex neglected and accepted classmates and were described by teachers and peers as aggressive, disruptive and inattentive. Neglected Ss were only marginally discriminable from same-sex accepted children. Neither neglected nor rejected Ss were differentiated from accepted Ss with respect to observed assertiveness and self-ratings of shyness, unhappiness, and feeling unaccepted. The results replicate previous findings for rejected children. Currently, there is not sufficient justification to consider the group of socially neglected children as a clinical category. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aspects of social reputation and peer relationships in Italian children: A cross-cultural perspective.

A group of Italian children (790 boys and 717 girls), 10–13 years old, were administered the Revised Class Play (Masten, Morison, & Pellegrini, 1985) in order to explore cross-cultural differences in social reputation with respect to North American studies. Children also were given sociometric nominations to examine the association between social reputation and peer acceptance–rejection. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed a 4-factor structure with the original Leadership-Sociability factor split in 2 separate dimensions: leadership and sociability. Leadership items seemed to draw a profile of a well-behaved, polite, and socially correct child, whereas Sociability items seemed to draw a profile of a child that is sociable, liked, exuberant, and ready to make friends and to interact with others. Moreover, the data suggested somewhat subtle forms of association between Aggression and Sociability. Results on relations between peer acceptance–rejection and social reputation confirmed North American findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of their peer experiences: Attributions, loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance.

338 3rd and 5th graders completed a sociometric questionnaire and 3 instruments designed to assess their feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, social avoidance, and their attributions for social outcomes. Results show that children's feelings and attributions varied as a function of peer status, gender, and grade. For example, compared with peers, rejected children reported higher levels of loneliness and were more likely to attribute relationship failures to external causes. Children's feelings were also significantly related to their attributions about social events. Popular, average, and controversial status children who were socially distressed exhibited a non-self-serving attributional style, whereas distressed rejected children exhibited a self-serving attributional pattern. Neglected children who were distressed exhibited elements of both of these attributional styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of aerobic exercise on psychological and behavioral variables of individuals with developmental disabilities: a critical review

Physical fitness of persons who are developmentally disabled has received relatively little attention in the special education literature when compared to intellectual functioning (e.g., learning, memory, and language) and to acquisition of functional skills (e.g., self-care, community, and vocational). Despite an increased interest in recreational programming stimulated by the concept of functional curricula, teachers may still be reluctant to include physical fitness activities in their students' schedules. Perhaps physical fitness programming for those with developmental disabilities would have wider appeal and application if it were embedded in the broader context of psychological and behavioral change (i.e., engagement in exercise produces generalized changes beyond direct improvement in physical well-being). This article is a review and critique of literature that focuses on the effects of participation in aerobic exercise on three classes of psychological/behavioral variables for persons with mental retardation and associated disabilities. The methodology that characterizes this literature is analyzed, and recommendations for future research are proposed.     

Human subjects review, personal values, and the regulation of social science research.

157 university human-Ss committees (i.e., institutional review boards [IRBs]) provided reviews of 9 hypothetical proposals that were identical in their treatment of human Ss but differed in sociopolitical sensitivity and in level of ethical concerns (e.g., presence or absence of deception, debriefing). The socially sensitive proposals were designed to document discrimination or reverse discrimination according to race or sex in corporate hiring practices, whereas nonsensitive proposals were designed to document discrimination based on height or weight. All aspects of the proposals were otherwise identical. Results show that socially sensitive proposals were twice as likely to be rejected by IRBs. Reasons for nonapproval varied: For sensitive proposals containing ethical concerns (e.g., deception), the foremost reason given for nonapproval was the violation itself. For sensitive proposals that did not involve ethical concerns, the reason most often given for nonapproval was "methodological" (e.g., poor control group). Nonsensitive proposals that did not involve ethical problems were approved 95% of the time vs only 40–50% of the time for comparable sensitive ones. Content analysis of the narratives that accompanied decisions revealed that the primary reason for rejection of sensitive proposals was the potential political impact of the proposed findings (e.g., discrediting of affirmative action policies). (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Come out and play: Shyness in childhood and the benefits of organized sports participation.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of organised sport participation as a moderator of the links between shyness and psychosocial maladjustment in childhood. Participants at Time 1 were 355 elementary schoolchildren (Mage=10.1 years, SD=0.6); at Time 2, 1 year later, 201 children (56%) were retained. At both time points, children completed self-report assessments of their shyness and aggression, sport participation, and psychosocial adjustment. Parents also rated children's social skills. Overall, results indicated that sport participation was positively related to indices of positive adjustment (e.g., social skills, self-esteem). In contrast, shyness was associated with social skill deficiencies and internalizing problems. However, some evidence was also found to suggest that sport participation plays a unique protective role for shy children. Shy children who participated in sport over time reported a significant decrease in anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the role of sport as a social context to enhance shy children's peer relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational approach to the assessment of social competence in children.

Generated and evaluated a taxonomy of the situations and tasks most likely to lead deviant children to experience social difficulties. In Study 1, elementary school teachers and clinicians were asked to notice such situations as they occurred. The outcome was a 44-item taxonomy of problematic social situations for children. This survey was administered to teachers of 45 socially rejected children (79% male) from Grades 3–5 and 39 adaptive children of the opposite sociometric criteria who were matched by sex and age to the rejected Ss. The survey was found to have high internal consistency and high test–retest reliability. Six situation types emerged as factors in analyses: Peer Group Entry, Response to Peer Provocations, Response to Failure, Response to Success, Social Expectations, and Teacher Expectations. Teachers rated the rejected group as having more problems than the adaptive group in each situation, but particularly in Response to Peer Provocations and Teacher Expectations. In Study 2, 15 items within the 6 factors were presented in a hypothetical format to 39 clinic-referred rejected aggressive children (77% males) from Grades 3–5 and 34 adaptive children selected by opposite criteria and matched by sex and age to the rejected aggressive Ss, who were asked to role play their responses. The items, in particular the provocation items, again differentiated the 2 groups. Sex and age differences were also found. The usefulness of this taxonomy in a 3-step model of clinical assessment is proposed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibition and exuberance in preschool classrooms: Associations with peer social experiences and changes in cortisol across the preschool year.

Associations between behavioral inhibition and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, a stress-sensitive neuroendocrine system indexed by salivary cortisol, have varied widely across studies. In the current study, we examined the role of peer social experiences in moderating patterns of association between inhibition/risk-aversion and cortisol reactivity. As expected based on previous research, preschool children (N = 165, 78 boys, 87 girls, 3.0–5.0 years) had significantly different social experiences in their preschool classrooms depending on temperament. Highly inhibited/risk-averse children were less socially integrated, less dominant, and less involved in aggressive encounters than both average and highly exuberant/risk-seeking children, but they were no more likely to be peer rejected. Highly exuberant children were more dominant, exhibited anger more often, and had friendships characterized by higher conflict. Cortisol levels fell from fall to spring for average and highly exuberant children but not for highly inhibited children. Unexpectedly, for highly inhibited children, having friends and being more dominant and popular than other highly inhibited children was associated with increasing cortisol levels over the school year. In contrast, highly exuberant children who were less socially integrated than other highly exuberant children maintained higher cortisol levels. Results indicate that the types of social experiences that affect stress-responsive biological systems may differ markedly for highly inhibited and highly exuberant children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of group problem solving experience upon social withdrawal in chronic schizophrenics.

It was hypothesized that chronic schizophrenics exposed to sustained group problem solving experience would tend to improve their levels of social participation on criterion tasks socially more challenging and complex. It was further hypothesized that such improvement would generalize to task performance with total strangers and to social behavior on the ward. All predictions except the one about ward behavior were confirmed by experimental findings with 32 chronic schizophrenic patients. It is suggested that sustained social experience in situations which elicit social participation permit factors to, become operative which reduce anxiety associated with socially more challenging, complex situations and thus facilitate participation in such situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of in-group favoritism: Between social reality and group identity.

This study examined how social reality restricts children's tendency for in-group favoritism in group evaluations. Children were faced with social reality considerations and with group identity concerns. Using short stories, in this experimental study, conducted among 3 age groups (6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds), the authors examined the trait attribution effects of reality constraints on eye-color differences and national group differences. The results show that the trait attributions of all age groups were restricted by the acceptance of socially defined reality. In addition, when the information about reality was not considered accurate, only the youngest children showed positive in-group favoritism. It is argued that these findings are useful in trying to reconcile some of the divergent and contrasting findings in the developmental literature on children's intergroup perceptions and evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)