Longitudinal and cross-sectional age effects in nonverbal decoding skill and style.

Administered a videotaped nonverbal discrepancy test to children 9–15 yrs old. The test measured (a) decoding accuracy—the extent to which Ss were able to identify affects (positivity and dominance) from video (facial and body) cues and audio (content filtered and random spliced) cues; (b) discrepancy accuracy—the extent to which Ss recognized the degree of discrepancy between audio and video cues; and (c) video primacy—the extent to which Ss were more influenced by video than by audio cues. Older Ss benefited more than younger ones from the effects of retesting in their accuracy at decoding discrepant cues, especially for discrepant facial cues. All Ss showed significantly less video primacy after retesting, and older Ss displayed a trend for less body primacy after retesting. Older Ss showed less video primacy than younger ones in decoding extremely discrepant (as compared to slightly discrepant) audio and video nonverbal cues. Thus, although older children performed better than younger children at most nonverbal decoding tasks, the advantages of age were especially great for the decoding of the more discrepant channels. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of social distance on teaching strategies of Anglo-American and Mexican-American mothers.

Examined the variable of social distance between teacher and learner by observing the pattern of interaction between mothers and their own preschool sons, boys from a similar background, and boys from a different ethnic and social class background. Ss were 30 3-yr-old Mexican-American and 30 3-yr-old Anglo-American boys. Anglo-American and Mexican-American mothers from middle and lower classes were videotaped as they taught a cognitive and a motor task to each of 3 children. The Parent Interaction Code was employed to analyze the teaching loop behavior. Programatic and instructional variables were different but stable for each ethnic group across social distance; patterns of feedback and child response shifted significantly across social distance. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict resolution among field-independent and field-dependent Anglo-American and Mexican-American children and their mothers.

32 Anglo-American and Mexican-American boys and girls selected for their extreme field independence or dependence (Man-in-the Frame box, adapted from the rod-and-frame test) interacted with their mothers in 3 role plays designed to provoke conflict over issues of maternal authority and children's independence. The mother–child interactions were recorded, transcribed, and content analyzed. Anglo-American children more often than Mexican-American children entered and persisted in direct conflict with their mothers as indicated by a number of variables such as disagreement and justification of their own will. There was some tendency for Mexican-American mothers to ask fewer questions and to assert their own will more than Anglo-American mothers. Field independence among boys, but field dependence among girls, was associated with more assertive behaviors. Mothers of field-independent children used a somewhat more elaborate verbal code. The study supports hypothesized cultural differences in mother–child interaction patterns, but fails to support the presumed socialization antecedents of field dependence and the cross-sex generality of its correlates. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of three field-dependence measures to the reading and math achievement of Anglo American and Mexican American children.

Previous studies relating field dependence to the superior academic achievement of Anglo-American children relative to Mexican-American children have relied exclusively on single-method approaches of measuring this cognitive style. The present study attempted to make a more comprehensive test of the relationship between field dependence and achievement by comparing members of both cultural groups on 3 commonly used measures of field dependence in order to determine the consistency of cross-cultural differences, intercorrelations, and predictive validity of these measures for Anglo-American and Mexican-American schoolchildren. 40 Mexican-American and 40 Anglo-American 1st–4th graders served as Ss and were administered the WISC Block Design subtest, the Children's Embedded Figures Test, and the portable rod-and-frame test. Results generally fail to support the assumptions that (a) Mexican-American children are more field dependent than Anglo-American children, (b) intercorrelations between the 3 field-dependence tests should be significant and comparable for members of both cultural groups, and (c) field dependence is of substantial importance to the school achievement of Anglo-American and Mexican-American children. The educational implications of the findings are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in decoding discrepant and nondiscrepant nonverbal cues.

Examined developmental changes in responses to consistent and discrepant video and audio nonverbal cues. A videotaped Nonverbal Discrepancy Test was administered to 121 males and 129 females aged 9–15 yrs. The discrepancy test measured (a) decoding accuracy—the extent to which Ss are able to identify affects (positivity and dominance) from visual (facial and body) cues and audio (content-filtered and random-spliced) cues—and (b) video primacy—the extent to which Ss are more influenced by video (face or body) than by audio cues. Results show that older Ss were more accurate at decoding affects than were younger Ss, particularly dominance–submission cues. Video primacy increased with age for facial cues (but not for body cues) and for cues of positivity (but not for cues of dominance). Relative to males, younger females showed more video primacy and older females showed less video primacy, particularly for cues of dominance–submission. Relative to younger Ss, older Ss showed less video primacy in decoding extremely discrepant audio and video cues than in decoding moderately discrepant ones. The development of nonverbal sensitivity to video and audio cues is discussed. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of adaptive assertiveness in Mexican and United States children.

Used a novel behavioral task, the assertiveness pull scale, and unobtrusive measures (e.g., number of questions asked of E) to assess the development of assertiveness of 154 boys and girls of 3 age groups (5-6, 7-9 and 10-12 yrs) in 4 populations. Urban middle-class Anglo-American children were significantly more assertive than semirural poor Anglo-American and Mexican-American children, who did not differ from each other but who were both significantly more assertive than rural poor Mexican children. Assertiveness increased with age for all groups, but at a slower rate among rural Mexican than among US children. No significant effects due to sex were observed. Results parallel population and age findings of previous studies of competitiveness. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teacher accuracy in assessing cognitive visual feedback from students.

The relative value of verbal and nonverbal cues in teacher accuracy in making judgments of student comprehension was tested. 67 new interns (not yet teachers), 59 inexperienced teachers, and 46 experienced teachers were each shown 20 short sound-film recordings of 10 students being taught. They rated student comprehension. 57 Ss heard both picture and sound, 60 heard sound only, and 55 saw only the picture. When sound is absent, all groups of teachers are inaccurate in judging student comprehension (about ? correct with ? the chance base). When sound is present, whether or not the picture is seen, all groups exceed chance (about ? correct), but do not differ significantly from each other. The need for research on teacher training in the observation and interpretation of nonverbal feedback from students is indicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in the learning status of diabetic children.

Evaluated the learning status of 95 diabetic boys and girls and 97 matched controls using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R) IQ factors and school histories. Of interest was whether diabetic boys would evidence more learning difficulties. Results indicated that diabetic boys had significantly lower Freedom From Distractibility scores compared with the scores of diabetic girls and control Ss and lower Perceptual Organization scores compared with scores of control boys. Although group scores were still within the average range of functioning, a significantly high percentage of diabetic boys (40%) compared with diabetic girls (16%) had learning problems that warranted either special instructional services or grade retention. Diabetic children experienced more learning difficulties (24%) than controls (13%), supporting research findings that diabetes is associated with increased risk of learning problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in the use of proximity and eye contact in judgments of affiliation in preschool children.

Investigated sex differences in preschool children's use of nonverbal cues in judgments of affiliation in 2 experiments. Ss were a total of 40 male and 40 female 3-6 yr olds. Results of Exp I show that although both 4-yr-old boys and girls used proximity cues in judging liking, only girls showed an increase in the accuracy of use of this cue by age 6. At age 4 neither boys nor girls were functioning above chance in their use of eye contact cues in judgments of affiliation, and again girls alone showed improvement by age 6. Exp II demonstrates that discrimination training involving the proximity cue facilitated the correct use of this cue in the judgments of 4-yr-old girls but not in boys. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The WISC-R and internal evidence of test bias with minority groups.

Judgment of test bias can be made on the basis of a number of criteria. This study examines the evidence on the cultural bias of the WISC-R for Anglo-American, Black, and Mexican-American children. The performance of 1,050 children aged 5–11 yrs on the internal criteria of reliability and a number of order-of-item-difficulty measures was assessed. Minority group Ss responded to the test in the same general way as did Anglo-American Ss, and there was no clear pattern to the items on the test that were more difficult for minority Ss. Thus, the WISC-R appears to be nonbiased for minority group children. Explanations other than specific item content should be sought for the observed discrepancy between majority group and minority group IQ test performance. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decoding and comprehension skills in Turkish and English: Effects of the regularity of grapheme-phoneme correspondences.

Assesses decoding and comprehension skills for Turkish and American 1st and 3rd graders. 20 Ss in each group were tested on a pseudoword vocalization task and on a paragraph comprehension task. Latency and accuracy data indexed decoding proficiency and percentage correct comprehension skill. Turkish Ss were faster and more accurate on the decoding task than Americans at the 1st-grade level and equally accurate but faster at the 3rd-grade level. In 1st but not 3rd grade, Turkish Ss were superior to Americans on the comprehension task. Significant relationships between decoding and comprehension were found for all but American 3rd graders. Data suggest that languages with more regular letter–sound correspondences lead to faster acquisition of decoding skills. Findings also support a decreased relationship between decoding and comprehension once learners are beyond initial reading. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of MMPI scores of Anglo- and Mexican-American psychiatric patients.

Reports MMPI profiles of 40 bilingual Mexican-American and 109 Anglo-American psychiatric patients. There were controls for the major variables of age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and presenting problem. With K -corrected T scores, Mexican-American Ss scored higher on the L and K scales and significantly lower on the Pd, Pt, and Ma scales. Anglo-American males scored higher than Mexican-American males on the Mf scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preferences toward Mexican-American and Anglo-American psychotherapists.

94 Mexican-American and 93 Anglo-American community college students listened to 1 of 2 matched therapy audiotapes. Using the same dialogue, in one tape the therapist spoke fluent English with a slight Spanish accent; in the other tape he spoke fluent English with a standard American accent. The therapist was identified as being either a Mexican-American or Anglo-American professional or nonprofessional. Both ethnic groups attributed more skill, understanding, trustworthiness, and attractiveness to the Anglo-American professional and the Mexican-American nonprofessional. The Mexican-American professional was seen by both groups less favorably than was the Mexican-American nonprofessional. Mexican-Americans showed a more favorable attitude toward the usefulness of therapy than did Anglo-Americans. Implications for the delivery of psychological services to Mexican-Americans and other minorities are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's achievement strategies and test performance: The role of time pressure, evaluation anxiety, and sex.

155 3rd and 4th graders were divided into low test-anxious (LTA), middle test-anxious (MTA), or high test-anxious (HTA) groups on the basis of scores on the Test Anxiety Scale for Children. Ss were then tested in small groups on age-appropriate arithmetic problems either under time pressure typical of current achievement testing or under no time pressure. HTA boys displayed poor performance under time pressure compared to their less anxious peers yet improved significantly when time pressure was removed, with HTA and MTA boys matching the performance of LTA boys. LTA boys and HTA girls performed better under time pressure. Ss' rate–accuracy patterns are examined, and several maladaptive strategies are suggested. HTA and MTA boys tended to perform quickly but inaccurately, whereas MTA and HTA girls tended to perform slowly but with only medium accuracy. Nearly all LTA Ss showed high accuracy and a moderate performance rate. Suggestions are made for diversifying test procedures to take into account different children's motivational dispositions and test-taking strategies, as well as for teaching children appropriate strategies for coping with the demands of different tests. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican-American cultural commitment, preference for counselor ethnicity, and willingness to use counseling.

Mexican-American college students who expressed a strong commitment to the Mexican-American culture (28 Ss), strong commitment to the Anglo-American culture (18 Ss), strong commitment to both cultures (38 Ss), or weak commitment to both cultures (14 Ss) rated their preference for an ethnically similar counselor and completed a willingness to use professional counseling survey. Results show that preference for counselor ethnicity and willingness to self-disclose in counseling were related to cultural commitment. Ss with a strong commitment to the Mexican-American culture expressed the greatest preference for an ethnically similar counselor and the least willingness to self-disclose. The 51 females expressed a greater willingness to use professional counseling services than did males. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motives for helping behavior: Kibbutz and city children in kindergarten and school.

Studied the motives for helping expressed by 80 children 4–5? and 7–8? yrs of age. Half of each age group were from a kibbutz and half from a city. Half of each group were boys, half girls. Ss were presented with 3 pictures depicting 3 situations in which one child had an opportunity to help. They were asked whether the child in the picture would help and if so, what the child's motive would be for such an action. They were also asked questions regarding motives for helping behavior in general. Three hypotheses were stated: (1) Older Ss would express higher-level motives for helping than younger Ss. (2) Kibbutz Ss would express higher-level motives than city Ss. (3) Girls would express higher-level motives than boys. Only the 1st hypothesis was confirmed. No differences were found between kibbutz and city Ss or between boys and girls. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Viewing bilingual multicultural educational television: An empirical analysis of children's behaviors during television viewing.

Presents a methodology for reliably observing and recording children's behaviors during television viewing. 385 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-grade Mexican-American, Puerto Rica, Cuban-American, and Anglo-American children viewed 2 Carrascolendas pilot programs, and their visual attention, facial expressions of mirth, verbal and nonverbal imitations, and program- and nonprogram-related verbalizations were measured. The relationships of these behaviors to each other, to perceptual-cognitive ability, to language used in the home, and to family socioeconomic and educational status; the stability of the behaviors over time and across programs; and the effects and interactions of ethnic group membership, grade level, and sex on behavior were examined. Findings of ethnic differences may be related to either (a) differential understanding of portions of the programs due to the language spoken, or (b) differential appeal of the material, (c) culturally determined differences in the degree, frequency, and pattern in which the behaviors studied are produced in each of the ethnic groups, or (d) cultural differences in the observers. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental communication deviance and schizophrenia: A cross-cultural comparison of Mexican- and Anglo-Americans.

Levels of parental communication deviance (CD), as measured on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), were compared among families of schizophrenic patients in two culturally distinct groups. Spanish-speaking Mexican-American parents of schizophrenics completed the TAT in their native language, and CD was coded from their stories by a Spanish-speaking rater. Mexican-American parents had levels of CD that were nearly identical to those of a carefully matched sample of English-speaking Anglo-American parents. Factor scores that measure distinct subtypes of CD also did not differ across groups. The data suggest that levels of CD, despite discriminating between parents of schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics, do not vary across different languages and cultures. (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)