Influence of adult and peer collaborators on children's planning skills.

Examined the effects of collaboration with an adult or a peer on children's independent errand planning. 32 adult–child and peer dyads involving 9- to 10-year-old children worked collaboratively on errand planning tasks, followed by an individual posttest. There was more use of sophisticated planning methods, greater involvement of children in such methods, and more frequent communication of planning strategies in adult–child than in peer dyads. On the individual posttest, children from adult–child dyads produced more efficient plans than target children from peer dyads. Sophistication of planning and communication of strategies during collaborative trials correlated, as did the extent of joint decision making, with children's posttest performance. The study suggests that adult guidance is more effective than peer collaboration in children's acquisition of errand planning skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Talking facilitates cognitive–emotional processes of adaptation to an acute stressor.

The authors examined the influence of talking and the social context of talking on cognitive–emotional processes of adjustment to stressors. Two hundred fifty-six undergraduates viewed a stressful stimulus and were then assigned to a no-talk control condition or 1 of 3 talk conditions: talk alone, talk to a validating confederate, or talk to an invalidating confederate. Two days later, they were reexposed to the stressor. Compared with individuals in the no-talk condition, those in the talk alone and validate conditions had a lower level of intrusive thoughts in the 2-day interim, and they had lower perceived stress when reexposed to the stressor. The effects of talking and validation on perceived stress appeared to be mediated by lowered intrusions. The benefits of talking were diluted when disclosures were invalidated. These findings suggest that tatting about acute stressors, can facilitate adjustment to stressors through cognitive resolution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer relationships and preadolescents' perceptions of security in the child-mother relationship.

In 2 studies, peer relationships were related to children's perceptions of security in the child-mother relationship. In Study 1, a sample of 74 5th graders, children who viewed their relationship with their mother as more secure were significantly more accepted by peers, had more reciprocated friendships, and were less lonely than children who rated the relationship as less secure. In Study 2, a sample of 5th and 6th graders, 44 same-gender friend pairs were videotaped in conversation and completed friendship questionnaires. Dyads in which both children were securely attached to their mothers were more responsive, were less critical, and reported more companionship than did friend dyads in which one child was securely and the other insecurely attached to his or her mother. The findings demonstrate links between the peer and family systems in middle childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Androgyny and leadership in mixed-sex groups.

An investigation of individual differences in psychological androgyny showed that they interacted with situational variables to alter the balance of leadership between 107 men and 107 women undergraduates in small-group discussions, as predicted. Each group was composed of either all androgynous or all sex-typed members. The 9 leadership measures represented process (e.g., minutes of speaking time), content (e.g., number of substantive suggestions), and peer impressions (e.g., leadership ratings). Results indicate that when dyads were reminded about their gender role beliefs before the discussion, androgynous men and women shared leadership more and sex-typed partners less than comparable dyads without reminder, in which men dominated regardless of androgyny. Providing social support by increasing group size from dyads to tetrads (2 men, 2 women) also increased leadership sharing between androgynous men and women and increased male dominance in sex-typed groups. Androgynous and sex-typed friends were more active than strangers but did not differ from comparable strangers in leadership-sharing patterns. Peer recognition of leadership followed behavior only roughly. Some behavioral differences were unrecognized; some differences that did not exist were reported. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding mind and emotion: Longitudinal associations with mental-state talk between young friends.

Developmental changes in children's understanding of mind and emotion and their mental-state talk in conversations with friends were examined in a longitudinal study of 50 children (M age at each time point = 3 years 11 months, 4 years 6 months, 5 years 0 months). Significant and related improvements over time were found for both theory-of-mind task performance and affective perspective taking. Associated with these cognitive developments were quantitative and qualitative changes in children's references to mental states in their conversations with friends. Individual differences in theory of mind, emotion understanding, and mental-state talk were strikingly stable over the 13 month period. Although there were no gender differences in children's task performances, girls showed more frequent and more developed mental-state talk than boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instruction by mothers and fathers during problem solving with their young children.

Mothers and fathers of 163 5-year-olds were observed interacting with their children in dyads on 2 separate occasions on a familiar and unfamiliar cognitive activity. Within- and between-family comparisons were conducted. Few differences in the instruction provided by mothers and fathers appeared, and those that did were on the unfamiliar task. On this task, instruction by mothers, within and across families, was more responsive to children's changing skill than was instruction by fathers. Directive and disapproving comments by parents were related to poorer posttest performance by the child. High level of instruction by both parents was related to better posttest performance than was low level of instruction by parents. Contributions of parents to their children's cognitive development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goals as a mediator of gender differences in high-affiliation dyadic conversations.

The present study examined whether gender differences in affiliative aspects (collaboration and cooperation) of dyadic conversations occur because girls are more oriented than boys toward goals focused on others. Preadolescents (11–13 years old; 51 boys, 53 girls) worked with a same- or an other-gender peer on a 4-week-long creative-writing task at school. Dyadic conversations and goals were assessed twice. High-affiliation conversations and mutual-participation goals were more prevalent in female than in male and mixed-gender dyads. Mutual-participation goals mediated gender differences in high-affiliation conversations. Control and task-performance goals did not differ by dyad gender. In mixed-gender dyads, conversation strategies and goals did not differ by gender. Implications of goals for understanding gender differences and similarities in conversations are discussed, (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing building, conversation, and learning through caregiver–child interactions in a children’s museum.

The authors adapted an experimental design to examine effects of instruction prior to entry into a children’s museum exhibit on caregiver–child interactions and children’s learning. One hundred twenty-one children (mean age = 6.6 years) and their caregivers were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 conditions that varied according to what, if any, preexhibit instruction the dyads received: (a) building and conversation instruction, (b) building instruction only, (c) conversation instruction only, (d) presentation of models of buildings and conversations without instruction, or (e) no instruction or control. Building instruction included information about triangular cross-bracing. Conversation instruction emphasized the use of elaborative wh-questions and associations. When observed in the exhibit, dyads in the groups that received building instruction included more triangles in their structures than those in the other groups. Caregivers provided with conversation instruction asked more wh-questions, made more associations, and engaged in more caregiver–child joint talk compared with those who received building instruction alone. Type of instruction was further linked to differences across conditions in the engineering content of talk, performance during immediate assessments of learning, and children’s memory following 1-day and 2-week delays. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's peer relations: A meta-analytic review of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average sociometric status.

Two-dimensional sociometric models have had a critical role in the investigation of children's peer relations in the past decade. In a meta-analysis, fitting categorical models (L. V. Hedges, 1982), sociometric group differences on behavioral and information source typologies were assessed. The broadband behavioral analysis showed that popular children's array of competencies makes them likely recipients of positive peer nominations, whereas high levels of aggression and withdrawal and low levels of sociability and cognitive abilities are associated with rejected peer status. A consistent profile marked by less sociability and aggression emerged for neglected status. Controversial children had higher aggressive behavior than rejected children but compensated for it with significantly better cognitive and social abilities. The moderator effects of narrow-band behavioral categories and information source were also examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict and friendship relations in middle childhood: behavior in a closed-field situation

Disagreements between school-aged children were examined as a function of friendship status. 66 same-sex dyads were selected, including equal numbers of "best friends" and nonfriends, who were then observed while playing a board game (a closed-field situation). Conflicts occurred more frequently among friends than among nonfriends and lasted longer. Friends did not talk more during their conflicts than nonfriends, but assertions were used selectively according to friendship and sex: With friends, girls used assertions accompanied by rationales more frequently than boys whereas boys used assertions without rationales more frequently than girls. These sex differences were not evident during conflicts between nonfriends. Results are discussed in relation to the social constraints intrinsic to closed-field competitive conditions as they apply to friendship relations in middle childhood.     

Attachment and emotion in autobiographical memory development

The relation of attachment status to autobiographical memory was assessed in 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds. Of specific interest was the relation between attachment status and the emotional content of parent-child memory conversations. Forty-six mother-child dyads discussed four events designed to elicit positive and negative emotional themes. Both attachment status and gender moderated the emotional content of this memory talk. Mother-daughter dyads with insecurely attached girls engaged in relatively more negative memory talk than mother-daughter dyads with securely attached girls. However, the dyads of secure girls elaborated more often on both positive and negative emotional themes than did the dyads of insecure girls who primarily elaborated on positive themes. The relations between attachment status and emotion talk for mother-son dyads were inconsistent. Findings were discussed in terms of the role of attachment in the social construction of autobiographical memories.     

The self-fulfilling influence of mother expectations on children's underage drinking.

This research examined whether mothers' expectations about their children's drinking behavior influenced their children's future alcohol use through self-fulfilling prophecies. It also investigated whether children's self-esteem, family social class, or the valence of mother expectations moderated this process. Analyses of longitudinal data from 505 mother-child dyads yielded results consistent with a self-fulfilling prophecy. The inaccurate portion of mother expectations predicted children's future alcohol use after accounting for relevant control variables. Moderation analyses indicated that this effect was stronger among higher self-esteem children and when mother expectations were positively valenced (i.e., when mothers underestimated their children's future alcohol use). The findings are discussed in terms of parent-child relationship quality, peer influences, self theories, and out-group stereotypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Adolescent Friends, Romantic Partners, and Siblings in the Emergence of the Adult Antisocial Lifestyle.

This study investigated the contribution of social processes in boys' adolescent relationships in 3 key domains--same-sex friends, cross-sex romantic partners, and younger siblings--to continued association with delinquent peers in young adulthood and, therefore, to continuance of an antisocial lifestyle. It was hypothesized that levels of negative interaction and antisocial talk observed during problem-solving discussions would be associated across the 3 domains. The influences of negative interactions and antisocial talk in the adolescent relationships on young-adult delinquent peer association were compared in 2 mediational models. It was posited that antisocial talk would be more predictive of continued association with delinquent peers than would negative interactions. Hypotheses were tested on an at-risk sample of young men (the Oregon Youth Study). Findings were generally in keeping with the hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' management of preschooler's peer relations: Is it related to children's social competence?

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the relation between parents' efforts to initiate and monitor children's peer contacts and qualities of children's peer relations in nonschool and school settings. Parents of 58 preschool children completed logs of their initiation and monitoring practices and of their children's peer contacts in nonschool settings during late preschool. Parents were classified as high versus low initiators, and direct versus indirect monitorers, depending on the form of management they tended to use for children's peer contacts. Information about children's peer relations in school was obtained through observational, sociometric, and teacher assessments conducted during preschool and kindergarten. Parents who initiated a higher proportion of peer contacts tended to have children who possessed a larger number of different play partners and more consistent companions in nonschool settings. For boys but not girls, higher levels of parental initiation were also associated with greater peer acceptance and lower levels of peer rejection in school. Direct or indirect forms of parental monitoring were unrelated to children's peer relations in nonschool settings, but directive styles were predictive of children's social maladjustment in school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonverbal imitation and toddlers' mastery of verbal means of achieving coordinated action.

Fourteen dyads of unfamiliar peers (White, both same gender and mixed gender) were observed longitudinally at 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 months of age. Verbalizations to the peer were analyzed for their social function with respect to the ongoing nonverbal activity and their temporal and topical coherence to prior talk. Six types of speech ( including verbal directives and topically well-connected speech) increased in frequency only after the peer partners had shown a marked increase in their readiness to imitate each other's nonverbal actions. These same types of speech occurred reliably more often when the peers were engaged in bouts of coordinated action generated largely by means of nonverbal imitative acts than during bouts of less coordinated nonverbal activity. Toddlers, through their nonverbal imitative activity, appear to create joint understandings of what they are doing together that aid in their use and development of verbal means of achieving coordinated action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's goals and strategies in response to conflicts within a friendship.

Little is known about the skills required for friendship, as distinct from those required for peer acceptance. The present study examined whether children's goals and strategies in friendship conflict situations are predictive of their friendship adjustment, after accounting for level of peer acceptance. Fourth- and 5th-grade children (N?=?696) responded to 30 hypothetical situations in which they were having a conflict with a friend. Results indicated that children's goals were highly related to their strategies and that children's goals and strategies were predictive of their real-life friendship adjustment. Pursuing the goal of revenge toward a friend was the goal or strategy most strongly associated with lacking friends and having poor-quality friendships. Gender differences were also found for each goal and strategy, with girls displaying a more prosocial goal and strategy orientation than boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure of psychotherapy: Role playing as a variable in dyadic communication.

42 Ss discussed personal experiences in dyads, with one S controlling conversation over a one-way intercom. All Ss acted as peers in Sessions 1 and 2. Experimental groups were then instructed to assume complementary patient and therapist roles in Sessions 3 and 4. Control Ss continued as peers. In Session 5 all Ss carried out unrestrained conversation. Under peer conditions, Ss distributed time for speaking approximately equally. Under psychotherapy roles, patients were allotted significantly more time, regardless of whether patient or therapist controlled the interaction. The same talk: listen ratio was maintained in Sessions 3 and 4 and continued in Session 5. The results suggest that the Ss perceived psychotherapy as a communication system in which relatively stable speaker roles are assigned to each participant. Implications of these findings were discussed. (15 ref.) (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)     

Young children's understanding of interpretive diversity between different-age listeners.

Tested children's understanding of interpretive diversity by assessing their attributions of knowledge to a mother and a preverbal baby, who both had access to an informative verbal message. In Exp 1, most children between ages 4 and 8 yrs overattributed knowledge to the preverbal baby after an informative message. Exps 1a and 1b demonstrated that overattributions were not due to conflating the speaker's intent to inform with the informativeness of the message, nor were they due to overestimating babies' limited knowledge. In Exp 2, 6- and 8-yr-olds acknowledged interpretive differences between the baby and adult listener if the message was not obviously informative. It is concluded that children do not readily view individual differences as related to interpretive differences, especially in the absence of cues inherent to a message that might suggest that the message has multiple interpretations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)