Effects of maltreatment on young children's socioemotional development: An attachment theory perspective.

The effects of maltreatment on early childhood development were examined in three domains suggested by attachment theory: relationships with novel adults, effectance motivation, and cognitive maturity. Three samples of children between 4 and 8 years of age were studied: 93 maltreated children, 67 demographically matched nonmaltreated children from families receiving welfare, and 30 nonmaltreated children from middle-class families. Children's scores on 10 dependent variables across the three domains of interest were factor analyzed, and two theoretically meaningful factors emerged. Maltreated children scored lower than welfare children, who in turn scored lower than middle-class children, on a factor measuring secure readiness to learn in the company of novel adults. Maltreated children and welfare children also scored higher than middle-class children, but did not significantly differ from each other, on a factor measuring outer-directedness. Results indicate that, during early childhood, maltreatment disrupts a dynamic balance between the motivation to establish safe, secure relationships with adults and the motivation to venture out to explore the world in a competency-promoting fashion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of parental maltreatment on children's conceptions of interpersonal relationships.

39 maltreated and 60 nonmaltreated Black 6–14 yr olds from lower income families told stories about kind or unkind initiatives from child to child, adult to child, or child to adult and then told what the recipient would do next. In contrast to their nonmaltreated counterparts, maltreated 6–8 yr olds told more stories in which children reciprocated the kind acts of adults and fewer stories in which adults or peers reciprocated the kind acts of children. Maltreated Ss of all ages justified their parents' unkind acts on the basis of their own bad behavior. Developmental trends in story content and story context measures differed for maltreated boys and girls; boys showed less development toward mature interpersonal peer relations. Findings suggest that the modes of adaptation used by abused and neglected children may be cognitively and emotionally similar. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A major threat to children's mental health: Psychological maltreatment.

Psychological maltreatment appears to be more prevalent and potentially more destructive than other forms of child abuse and neglect. However, it receives little attention from the public or professional sector and is seldom the target of research or intervention. This article reviews the literature and concludes that psychological maltreatment is the core issue in child maltreatment and poses a serious mental health threat that should be brought to the forefront of psychology's efforts in policy development, research, intervention, and prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nebraska school nurses identify emotional maltreatment of school-age children: a replication of an Ohio study

PURPOSE: To determine how often school nurses identify emotional maltreatment using validated vignettes. DESIGN: Survey, with 16 behavior vignettes, mailed to 550 Nebraska school nurses. Four forms represented nonwhite and white, male and female children. Demographic questionnaire included. SETTING: Survey mailed with regular spring school nurses' newsletter. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred twenty-one school nurses completed and returned surveys. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Each vignette was an example of emotional abuse; subjects indicated "refer" or "not refer" decisions about the vignette. All items were positive for emotional abuse. RESULTS: Sixty-four of 121 (53%) respondents correctly identified 13 or more vignettes as referable for emotional maltreatment. No influence of child gender and race on reporting decision. No nurse characteristics correlated with referral rates. CONCLUSIONS: None of the variables studied significantly influenced school nurses' identification of emotional abuse. Further research is needed to ascertain correlation between text vignettes and reporting, and to identify interventions to increase the rate of identifying emotional abuse.     

Longitudinal relations among parental emotional expressivity, children's regulation, and quality of socioemotional functioning.

The role of regulation as a mediator of the relations between maternal emotional expressivity and children's adjustment and social competence was examined when children (N=208) were 4.5 to just 8 years old (Time 1, T1) and 2 years later (Time 2, T2). At T2, as at T1, regulation mediated the relation between positive maternal emotional expressivity and children's functioning. When T1 relations and the stability of variables over time were controlled for in a structural equation model, T2 relations generally were nonsignificant, although parents' dominant negative expressivity predicted high regulation. In contrast, in regressions, the findings for parent positive expressivity, but not negative expressivity, held at T2 when T1 variables were controlled. Thus, relations for negative expressivity, but not positive expressivity, changed with age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of children's family structure status on the development of stereotypes by teachers.

The possibility that teacher ratings of children may indicate a stereotype on the part of teachers was investigated by showing 30 teachers a videotape that focused on the social interaction of an 8-yr-old boy. Half of the teachers were given a background information sheet indicating that he was from a divorced home, while the other half were told he was from an intact home. Ss rated the boy on a wide range of 11 personality traits and predicted what his behavior would be like in 5 different school situations (e.g., copes with stress and popularity). The Bonferroni multiple-comparisons procedure indicated that the teachers rated the divorced child more negatively on the following 3 variables reflecting affective state or relations: happiness, emotional adjustment, and copes with stress. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and maltreatment as predictors of social competence and social problem-solving skills in school-age children

Childhood depression and child maltreatment have been shown to be important predictors of childhood adjustment problems, including difficulties in the spheres of home, school, and peer relationships. In this study, depression and maltreatment were used to predict social competence and social problem-solving skills, as rated by self, parent, and teacher. The total sample contained 68 children (35 girls, 33 boys), most of whom were at high-risk either due to poverty, physical abuse and neglect (as determined by substantiated Protective Services reports), or exposure to negative life events. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses were used to identify the contribution of depression and maltreatment to social competence and social problem-solving skills. Depression predicted parents' and teachers' ratings of social competence and parents' ratings of peer rejection. Additionally, depression predicted children's ratings of social competence and both measures of social problem-solving skills. Maltreatment predicted parents' and teachers' ratings of social competence. Gender predicted teachers' ratings of peer rejection and social competence. An additive effect of depression and maltreatment was found such that children who are depressed and maltreated have the lowest social competence as rated by parents and teachers. These children are, therefore, doubly at risk for problems in future relationships.     

Lightning-strike disaster: Effects on children's fears and worries.

Administered a fear survey to 29 10–13 yr old children and their mothers who had been participants or observers when lightning struck a soccer game with a force that knocked down most of the participants and observers and led to the death of 1 participant. Two control children were matched to each lightning-strike (LS) child for age, sex, and SES, making a total of 58 controls. In addition, measures of Ss' sleep disturbances and somatic complaints were obtained from their mothers, and the interviewer rated each LS S for the extent of emotional upset caused by the disaster. Results show that differences between the LS and control groups were most pronounced for child-reported fears. The generalization gradient was fairly consistent with expectations from classical conditioning theory. The correspondence between the mothers' and children's reports of intense storm-related fears was markedly larger in the LS Ss than in the controls. Child-reported fears showed a number of substantial relations with mother-reported sleep and somatic problems and with interviewer-rated emotional upset. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contingency detection and the contingent organization of behavior in interactions: Implications for socioemotional development in infancy.

In this report, the authors review studies addressing the issue of contingencies in social and nonsocial contexts during infancy. The review is divided into 4 groups of studies that suggest that (a) young infants detect contingencies unrelated to their behavior; (b) infants detect contingencies involving their behavior; (c) the study of contingency is pertinent for addressing behavioral organization within parent-infant interaction; and (d) there is a link between behavioral contingency in early infancy and global measures of socioemotional development that are predictive of social functioning at later points during childhood. Throughout the report, the pertinence of infant emotional responses during contingency-related tasks is emphasized. Finally, the authors delineate certain enduring questions regarding contingency experience in infancy and suggest ways of organizing research to address some of them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons of varying dosages of relaxation in a corporate setting: Effects on stress reduction.

This investigation evaluated the reduction of self-reported stress in a corporate setting in 2 studies. In Experiment 1, participants engaged in 3 dosages of progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). Using a Subjective Units of Distress (SUD) scale, participants reported significant stress reduction following all dosages. The 25-min dose was associated with a significantly greater SUD reduction than the 7-min dose; the 15-min dose was not different than the other 2 dosages. Experiment 2 compared 15 min of PMR to four 1.5- to 2-min mini-relaxation (MR) episodes. Magnitude of stress reduction was significant but similar between the MR and PMR conditions. MR took half the time to administer and was practiced more frequently than PMR between sessions and at follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant-adult attachments on the kibbutz and their relation to socioemotional development 4 years later.

Studied the predictive validity of Stange Situation classifications among infants raised on kibbutzim in Israel. C-type (resistant) attachments are frequently found on Israeli kibbutzim, but the long-term correlates of this "insecure" pattern have not been identified. 59 Ss, whose attachments to parents and metaplot were assessed at age 11–14 mo, were seen again when they were 5 yrs old to assess socioemotional development. Ss who had B-type attachments to their metaplot were later less ego controlled and more empathic, dominant, purposive, achievement-oriented, and independent than C-group Ss. Group differences were in the direction predicted on the basis of prior research on the correlates of infant–mother attachment. Measures of socioemotional development reflected Ss' behavior at the kibbutz but not at home or with parents. This may explain the relatively strong predictive power of attachment status with metapelet as opposed to attachment status with parents. Results may underscore the central importance of the careprovider as a key figure in the early social life of kibbutzim. Findings raise questions regarding developmental significance of attachment relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation among school-age children: The development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale.

To foster the study of emotion regulation beyond infancy and toddlerhood, a new criterion Q-sort was constructed. In Study 1, Q-scales for emotion regulation and autonomy were developed, and analyses supported their discriminant validity. Study 2 further explored the construct validity of the Emotion Regulation Q-Scale within a sample of 143 maltreated and 80 impoverished children, aged 6 to 12 years. A multitrait-multimethod matrix and confirmatory factor analyses indicated impressive convergence among the Emotion Regulation Q-Scale and established measures of affect regulation. This new scale also was discriminable from measures of related constructs, including Q-sort assessments of ego resiliency. The use of this new measure was further supported by its ability to distinguish between maltreated and comparison children and between groups of well-regulated versus dysregulated children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of low-birth-weight children's cognitive development.

Investigates the developmental patterns of cognitive performance over the 1st 3 yrs in a large sample of Black and White low birthweight (LBW), premature children (N?=?762), selected from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP). The IHDP is a randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of education and family support services in reducing the incidence of developmental delay in LBW preterm infants at 8 clinical sites. Developmental patterns are identified by means of cluster analysis on the basis of the intelligence test scores at 12, 24, and 36 mo (corrected for gestational age). Five developmental patterns were identified, including (1) high stable, (2) high decline to average, (3) high decline to below average, (4) average decline to below average, and (5) very low stable. Results reveal that these patterns of cognitive development can be discriminated by 3 dimensions: maternal environment, children's neonatal health status, and treatment. Mother's cognitive ability and quality of a child's home environment were also found to be associated with LBW children's developmental patterns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of instruction in narrative structure on children's writing.

Examined the possibility that direct instruction in story constituents and their interrelations could enhance 4th-grade children's organization in story writing. Whether the special instruction might affect quality, coherence, use of temporal and causal relations, and creativity in writing was also examined. 19 4th graders who scored at a low level on measures of knowledge of narrative structure were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments—instruction in knowledge of story structure or instruction in dictionary-word study. The instruction included a short-term, intensive phase with 6 sessions during 2 wks and a long-term, intermittent phase with 10 sessions during 5 wks. Instruction in narrative structure had a strong positive effect on organization in storywriting and also enhanced quality. There were no differential effects of the 2 treatments on coherence, use of temporal or causal links in writing, or creativity. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of meaning in children's descriptive terms.

"… we would expect that correlated attributes would appear in experienced speakers' usage, in situations of prediction and metaphorical extension, but not in detonation where the evidence for attribute discrimination is available. In new learners, however, one term may apply to both attributes, which are not in fact discriminated, or both terms may appear as interchangeable synonyms for the two undiscriminated attributes… . A reduction with age is predicted with respect to the use of the wrong terms when a difference in only one attribute of the correlated set is present." The hypothesis received support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of rewards on children's prosocial motivation: A socialization study.

This study examined the relation between mothers' attitudes/practices regarding the use of rewards and children's susceptibility to the undermining effects of rewards. We assessed the attitudes/practices regarding rewards for 72 mothers and assigned their children to a control condition or to one of four experimental conditions that differed in whether children received rewards for helping and whether children engaged in the helping task or watched other children help. Children were then given an opportunity to help in a nonreward free-choice period. Rewards enhanced helping in the immediate situation. However, rewards undermined children's helping in the free-choice period, but only for children whose mothers felt positive about using rewards. Moreover, mothers who felt more positive about using rewards reported their children to be less prosocial than children of mothers who had less positive attitudes. It was suggested that children's responses to rewards depend in part on their experiences with rewards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior and aspirations: A study of parents' and children's goal setting.

Although Type A behavior is recognized as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, little is known about its antecedents. In order to learn more about the achievement-striving component of Type A, this study investigated both children's goal setting and their parents' aspirations. Type A children did not have higher aspirations than did Type B children for their performance on an experimental task. Examination of parental aspirations as correlates of Type A scores in two samples of children indicated that mothers did not report different aspirations for their Type A and Type B children. However, fathers did report setting high goals for their Type A sons and perceived that these goals were not attained by them. Paternal aspirations were not consistently related to Type A behavior in daughters. These findings suggest that the father may play an important role in the development of Type A behavior in sons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity.

Socioemotional selectivity theory claims that the perception of time plays a fundamental role in the selection and pursuit of social goals. According to the theory, social motives fall into 1 of 2 general categories–those related to the acquisition of knowledge and those related to the regulation of emotion. When time is perceived as open-ended, knowledge-related goals are prioritized. In contrast, when time is perceived as limited, emotional goals assume primacy. The inextricable association between time left in life and chronological age ensures age-related differences in social goals. Nonetheless, the authors show that the perception of time is malleable, and social goals change in 20–83 yr olds when time constraints are imposed. The authors argue that time perception is integral to human motivation and suggest potential implications for multiple subdisciplines and research interests in social, developmental, cultural, cognitive, and clinical psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)