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)     

Relational victimization predicts children’s social-cognitive and self-regulatory responses in a challenging peer context.

In this study, the authors examined whether exposure to relational victimization was associated with children’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior in an unfamiliar, challenging peer context. Children (110 girls, 96 boys; mean age = 10.13 years, SD = 1.16) reported on their exposure to relational victimization by peers. Following a challenging interaction with an unfamiliar peer, children reported on their beliefs about their interaction partners and their social goals (i.e., focus on getting to know their partner vs. impressing their partner) during the interaction. Coders rated children’s emotion and behavior regulation and the quality of the dyadic context. Results from hierarchical linear modeling analyses reveal that relational victimization predicted maladaptive social-cognitive processes (i.e., more negative peer beliefs and a heightened performance goal orientation) and heightened emotion and behavior dysregulation. Several of these effects were particularly salient in the context of a conflictual dyadic interaction. This research provides insight into impairments associated with relational victimization that may contribute to the emergence and/or perpetuation of peer difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral profiles of anxious solitary children and heterogeneity in peer relations.

Consistent with a holistic perspective emphasizing the integration of multiple individual characteristics within child systems, it was hypothesized that subgroups of anxious solitary (AS) children characterized by agreeableness, behavioral normality, attention-seeking-immaturity, and externalizing behaviors would demonstrate heterogeneity in peer relations and dyadic friendships. Sociometrics were collected for 688 3rd-grade children (mean age = 8.66 years, 51.5% female), and recess observations were obtained for a subset of 163 children. Results revealed that agreeable AS children demonstrated significantly superior relational adaptation relative to other AS children, whereas normative, attention-seeking-immature, and externalizing AS children demonstrated increasing relational adversity. Attention-seeking-immature AS children engaged in particularly high rates of directed solitary behavior and were most ignored by peers. Externalizing AS children were most often victimized by peers. Subgroup differences in sociometric peer adversity were qualified by sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fathering in family context and child adjustment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study focuses on relations between fathers’ behavior in family context and children’s adjustment, including the roles of paternal depressive symptoms, paternal marital conflict behaviors, paternal parenting, and children’s emotional security. Participants included 235 families with a six-year-old child, with families followed longitudinally each year for three years. In terms of fathers’ adjustment, paternal problem drinking was related to paternal negative marital conflict behaviors and decreased positive parenting, which was associated with children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. Fathers’ depressive symptoms were directly related with children’s internalizing problems. Children’s emotional security was an intervening variable in relations between father’s behavior in family context and children’s development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observations of Aggressive Children During Peer Provocation and With a Best Friend.

Observational methods were used to examine aggressive children's peer relations in 2 contexts: when being teased by a peer and when interacting with a best friend. Because aggressive children may have more difficulty than nonaggressive children in both peer contexts, the authors also examined whether relations between behaviors across contexts varied as a function of aggression. Results indicated that aggression was related to children's behavior when provoked. Children's behavior when provoked was associated with fewer positive and more negative interactions with their best friend, particularly for aggressive children. Results are discussed with respect to social norms in middle childhood and informing interventions for aggressive children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental correlates of children's peer relations: An empirical test of a tripartite model.

In recognition of the multiple pathways through which family and peer systems are linked, this short-term longitudinal study tested a tripartite model of family-peer relationships. One hundred fifty-nine fourth-grade children (82 boys, 77 girls) and their parents participated in a study of the links between parent behaviors and children's peer relations both concurrently and 1 year later. A multimethod approach--including observations of parent?child interactions, parent report, child report, and teacher and peer ratings--was used to evaluate a tripartite model of family-peer relations. Results indicate that parent?child interaction, parent advice giving, and parental provision of opportunities by both mothers and fathers predict children's social competence and, in turn, social acceptance 1 year later. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are noted, and limitations of the study are acknowledged. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antipathetic relationships in child and adolescent development: A meta-analytic review and recommendations for an emerging area of study.

Antipathetic relationships, or relationships based on mutual dislike, have received less attention than other aspects of children’s peer relations. The present meta-analytic review summarizes the existing literature (26 studies consisting of over 23,000 children and adolescents) to illuminate the prevalence of antipathetic relationships and their associations with maladjustment. Results indicate that 35% of children have an antipathetic relationship and that antipathetic relationships are associated with externalizing and internalizing problems, low academic achievement, low prosocial behavior, victimization and rejection by peers, and lower positive peer regard (e.g., social preference) and friendships. Gender differences in antipathetic relationships are trivial, and antipathetic relationships are equally often same and mixed gender. Collectively, the findings indicate the importance of studying antipathetic relationships, and several directions for future research are described. (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)     

History of peer victimization and children's response to school bullying.

We examined the degree to which children with and without a history of stable peer victimization differentially endorse strategies for dealing with school bullies. Participants were 323 children, 58 of whom met criteria for chronic peer victimization. Children with a history of stable peer victimization differed from comparison children in how they rated various strategies, but the findings were gender specific. Chronically bullied girls were less inclined to endorse any strategy (coercive or noncoercive), whereas chronically bullied boys generally endorsed adult-recommended strategies. However, strategy endorsement for boys was associated with greater levels of peer victimization in the following grade. Discussed is the complex role of interpersonal strategies in affecting change in bullied children's victimization experiences and the implications for intervening on behalf of chronically bullied children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament and externalizing behavior: Social preference and perceived acceptance as protective factors.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of social preference and perceived acceptance as moderators of the relation between child temperament and externalizing behavior. Participants included 399 children evaluated at pre-kindergarten and kindergarten assessments. Pre-kindergarten children characterized by high temperamental Surgency/Extraversion were more likely to exhibit hyperactivity and aggression in the kindergarten classroom. In addition, kindergarten perceived acceptance and social preference moderated the relation between pre-kindergarten Surgency/Extraversion and kindergarten hyperactivity for girls only. Girls who were characterized by high temperamental Surgency/Extraversion, high perceived acceptance, and low social preference were at risk for higher levels of teacher-reported and peer-nominated hyperactivity. In contrast, accurately high perceived acceptance was a protective factor for high temperamental Surgency/Extraversion. Findings are discussed in terms of risk and protective factors for externalizing behavior. (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)     

Same-gender and cross-gender peer acceptance and peer rejection and their relation to bullying and helping among preadolescents: Comparing predictions from gender-homophily and goal-framing approaches.

The relation between bullying and helping and same-gender and cross-gender peer acceptance and peer rejection was examined in a sample of preadolescents aged 11 and 12 years (N=1,065). The authors tested predictions from a gender-homophily approach vs. predictions from a goal-framing approach in which acceptance and rejection are seen as being generated by approach and avoidance goals, respectively. For preadolescents, both approaches predicted a central role for gender, but the gender-homophily approach predicted symmetrical effects for acceptance and rejection, whereas the goal-framing approach predicted strong asymmetries. The data supported the goal-framing approach. The most important findings were that for preadolescents, acceptance is much more frequent and much more gendered than rejection; the absolute impact of helping on acceptance is much larger than that of bullying (and vice versa for rejection); for acceptance, there is a prototypicality effect (i.e., boys accept bullying girls better than nonbullying girls, and girls accept helping boys better than nonhelping boys); and for acceptance, there is a cross-gender ignorance effect (i.e., boys ignore helping in girls, and girls ignore bullying in boys). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reticent behavior and experiences in peer interactions in Chinese and Canadian children.

In this study, the authors examined relations between reticent behavior in unfamiliar peer situations and experiences in interactions in Chinese and Canadian children. Observational data were collected from samples of children at 4 years of age in the People's Republic of China and Canada. The results indicated that relations between reticent behavior and peer initiations were similar in the 2 samples. The differences between the samples were mainly in peer responses. Reticent behavior was associated with peer rejection such as overt refusal and disagreement in the Canadian sample but with positive responses such as approval in the Chinese sample, particularly when children made low-power initiations. The results suggest that reticent children in China and Canada may have similar as well as different experiences in social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Social behavior correlates of cortisol activity in child care: gender differences and time-of-day effects

The relations between social behavior and daily patterns of a stress-sensitive hormone production were examined in preschool children (N = 75) attending center-based child care. Three behavioral dimensions, shy/anxious/internalizing, angry/aggressive/externalizing, and social competence, were assessed by teacher report and classroom observation, and their relations with 2 measures of cortisol activity, median (or typical) levels and reactivity (quartile range score between second and third quartile values) were explored. Cortisol-behavior relations differed by gender: significant associations were found for boys but not for girls. Specifically, for boys externalizing behavior was positively associated with cortisol reactivity, while internalizing behavior was negatively associated with median cortisol. Time of day of cortisol measurement affected the results. Surprisingly, median cortisol levels rose from morning to afternoon, a pattern opposite to that of the typical circadian rhythm of cortisol. This rise in cortisol over the day was positively correlated with internalizing behavior for boys. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings for the study of the development of hormone-behavior relations are discussed.     

Sports participation and juvenile delinquency: The role of the peer context among adolescent boys and girls with varied histories of problem behavior.

In a study of 1,344 urban adolescents, the authors examined the relation between participation in organized sports and juvenile delinquency. They compared youth who participated in sports to those who only participated in nonathletic activities and to those who did not participate in any organized activities. They also examined the indirect relations between sports and delinquency via 2 peer-related constructs—deviant peer affiliations and unstructured socializing. Finally, they examined the extent to which gender and prior externalizing problems moderated the direct and indirect relations between sports participation and delinquency. The authors found that the odds of nonviolent delinquency were higher among boys who participated in sports when compared to boys who participated only in nonathletic activities but not when compared to boys who did not participate in any organized activities. Deviant peer affiliations and unstructured socializing mediated the relation between sports participation and boys' nonviolent delinquency. Moreover, prior externalizing problems moderated the mediated path through peer deviance. The authors did not, however, find direct, mediated, or moderated relations between sports and boys' violent delinquency nor between sports and girls' violent or nonviolent delinquency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations of temperament reactivity and effortful control to children’s adjustment problems in China and the United States.

The relations of parents’ and teachers’ reports of temperament anger–irritability, positive emotionality, and effortful control (attention focusing and inhibitory control) to children’s externalizing and internalizing problems were examined in Chinese (N = 382) and U.S. (N = 322) samples of school-age children. Results suggested that in both cultures, low effortful control and high anger–irritability were associated with high externalizing problems, although the relations were stronger in the Chinese sample than in the U.S. sample. Low positive emotionality was associated with high internalizing problems in both cultures. However, high positive emotionality was associated with noncomorbid externalizing problems (teachers’ reports) in the Chinese sample but not in the U.S. sample. These findings suggest that there are considerable cross-cultural similarities in the temperament–adjustment associations, although some cross-cultural differences might exist. Implications of the findings for the detection and intervention of adjustment problems in Chinese children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in the reciprocal relationships between parental physical aggression and children's externalizing problem behavior in China.

The study examines gender differences in the reciprocal relations between parental physical aggression and child externalizing problem behavior in China. Four hundred fifty-four Chinese elementary school-age children reported on three forms of their parents' physical aggression toward them (i.e., mild corporal punishment, severe corporal punishment, and physical abuse) and their externalizing problem behavior at two time points, 6 months apart. Structural equation modeling revealed that the three types of parental physical aggression predicted child externalizing problem behavior for girls but not boys, whereas child externalizing problem behavior predicted severe corporal punishment and physical abuse for boys but not girls; child externalizing problem behavior did not predict mild corporal punishment for either gender. The findings suggest that the intervention for and prevention of child externalizing problem behavior may be somewhat different for boys and girls in China. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

When syndromal similarity obscures functional dissimilarity: Distinctive evoked environments of externalizing and mixed syndrome boys.

This research examined how syndromal approaches to assessment can obscure differences between children in the quality of their social interactions. Mixed boys (high for externalizing and internalizing problems) showed heterogeneity in the responses they evoked from others: For one subgroup, aggression and withdrawal evoked aversive responses from others, and even prosocial behavior evoked hostile peer responses; for the other, aggression and withdrawal evoked positive peer responses. Externalizing boys also showed heterogeneity in the patterning of their evoked responses. Within-group heterogeneity was not explained by boys' syndrome scores but was linked to their reactions to specific antecedent events. The results illustrate how a contextualized analysis of behavior can reveal distinctive social interactional patterns that underlie similar overall rates of problem behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of popular and unpopular peers: A multimethod assessment.

Children's perceptions of popular and unpopular peers were examined in 2 studies. Study 1 examined the degree to which 4th-8th-grade boys and girls (N=408) nominated the same peers for multiple criteria. Children viewed liked others as prosocial and disliked others as antisocial but associated perceived popularity with both prosocial and antisocial behavior. In Study 2, a subset of the children from Study 1 (N=92) described what makes boys and girls popular or unpopular. Children described popular peers as attractive with frequent peer interactions, and unpopular peers as unattractive, deviant, incompetent, and socially isolated. In both studies, children's perceptions varied as a function of the gender, age, and ethnicity of the participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)