Friendship Behaviors During Early Childhood and Beyond

This project examines friendship development by identifying behaviors that young children associate with friendship and comparing whether those behaviors match what adults in an enduring friendship recall about the beginnings of their friendships. To examine these questions, young children at a child care facility were interviewed about friendship and 95 adults in enduring friendships identified critical incidents from the beginnings of their friendships. The results not only support past research about what friends mean to young children; but also identifies the ability children have to make distinctions among the many individuals who play with them to be able to label a special person as a best friend. The project proposes that whether childhood friendships become enduring friendships is based on the opportunities the children have to remain friends. It is suggested the opportunity to remain friends is one that can be enhanced by parents and early childhood programs.     

Relational Aggression, Overt Aggression, and Friendship

This study ( n = 315 9–12-year-olds) was conducted to assess whether the social problems that relationally and overtly aggressive children typically experience in the peer group context are also exhibited in the dyadic, friendship context. The qualities of children's friendships (e.g., levels of intimacy) and of the importance of those qualities (e.g., the importance of intimacy) were assessed with self-report instruments adapted from past research. Results indicated that the friendships of relationally aggressive children were characterized by relatively high levels of intimacy, exclusivity/jealousy, and relational aggression within the friendship context. In contrast, the friendships of overtly aggressive children were characterized by engaging together in aggressive acts toward those outside the friendship. In addition, overtly aggressive children placed relatively high importance on these coalitional acts and on companionship with their friends. Implications for our understanding of aggressive children and for our knowledge of children's friendships are discussed.     

Relational and Overt Aggression in Middle Childhood: Early Child and Family Risk Factors

This study investigated early child and family risk factors for relational and overt aggression in 207 children followed since birth. Risk factors were assessed during infancy and preschool, and aggression in Grades 1, 3, and 5. Independent risk factors for Aggression Severity (total of relational and overt aggression) included lower language abilities, lower levels of temperamental withdrawal/inhibition, and greater exposure to family environments characterized by maternal negativity toward the child, family negative expressiveness, and maternal depression. The major risk factor for Aggression Directionality (relative preponderance of relational versus overt aggression) was gender. Child temperament interacted with family risk factors in predicting Severity, and child gender moderated the associations of temperament and family risk factors in predicting both Severity and Directionality.     

Self-Reported Moral Emotions and Physical and Relational Aggression in Early Childhood: A Social Domain Approach

This study examined discrepancies between 4- and 7-year-olds’ (n = 135; M_age = 5.65) self-reported affect following hypothetical moral versus social-conventional transgressions and their associations with teacher-rated physical and relational aggression concurrently and 9-months later. Negative emotion ratings in response to prototypical moral transgressions were not associated with children's aggression. When transgressions were described as no longer prohibited by rules and authority figures, children reporting more negative affect in response to moral as compared to conventional violations were less physically aggressive at Wave 1 and showed relative and mean-level declines in physical aggression over time. Relational aggression was not associated with self-reported emotions. Findings indicate the importance of distinguishing between types of transgressions and forms of aggression in studying moral emotions.     

Do Relational Risks and Protective Factors Moderate the Linkages between Childhood Aggression and Early Psychological and School Adjustment?

This investigation addressed the question of how relational stressors and supports interface with a known behavioral risk (aggression) to influence early emerging adjustment trajectories. Children's risk for aggression, as well as multiple relational risk and protective factors (i.e., stressful and supportive features of peer and teacher relationships), were assessed in a sample of 396 children and used to predict changes in psychological functioning and school adjustment from the fall of their kindergarten year to the spring of their first-grade year. Results were largely consistent with additive risk-maladjustment models; with few exceptions, relational experiences predicted adjustment beyond children's aggressive risk status. For some adjustment criteria, however, there was evidence to suggest that relational stressors or supports exacerbated or compensated for dysfunctions that were linked with aggressive behavior. Moreover, compared with early onset, the chronicity of children's aggressive risk status and relational stressors and supports bore a stronger association with changes in maladjustment. Analyses conducted by ethnic groups suggested that African American children, who were typically a minority among their European American classmates, were more likely to experience particular stressors (e.g., chronic peer rejection), and were less likely to be afforded some form of support (e.g., stable teacher-child closeness). However, the nature of the predictive linkages found between the relational risk and protective factors and later maladjustment did not differ substantially by SES or ethnicity. The importance of investigating behavioral risks in conjunction with the relational features of children's interpersonal environments is discussed.     

关系攻击研究的回顾与展望

关系攻击是指意图通过操纵关系来伤害他人的行为。关系攻击与间接攻击和社会攻击的概念较为相似而又有一定的差异。社会信息加工模型在一定程度上解释了关系攻击的认知加工过程,而性别关联整合模型为理解童年早中期的关系攻击提供了新的理论框架。关系攻击主要的测量方法包括社会测量法、教师和家长评定、自我报告以及行为观察。性别差异、发展轨迹和稳定性、以及与社会适应的关系是关系攻击研究中较为关注的几个问题,而最近关系攻击的干预研究也呈现出发展的态势。未来的研究还需关注关系攻击的方法论问题、重点探讨关系攻击的认知加工过程和干预研究,并进一步拓展关系攻击的研究范围。     

The Relationship Between Relational Aggression in Kindergarten Children and Friendship Stability, Mutuality, and Peer Liking

The current study examined relational aggression in kindergarten children and how it relates to aspects of their friendships over a 2-month period. Participants were 74 boys and girls (ages 5 and 6). Teacher report and peer nominations assessed relational and physical aggression. Children also rated each child in their class on liking and identified their friends. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that peer nominations of relational aggression were negatively related to Time 1 liking, Time 1 number of mutual friends, and friendship stability even when teacher ratings of physical aggression were controlled. Physical aggression was also significantly related to these variables. Relational aggression (but not physical aggression) significantly predicted declines in the number of mutual friendships and liking two months later.     

Shifting to Remote Learning During COVID-19: Differences for Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education Teachers

This study explored similarities and differences in how early childhood education (ECE) teachers (n?=?947) and early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers (n?=?160) provided remote learning to young children and their families following COVID-19 shelter in place orders in the spring of 2020. The most utilized remote learning activities for both ECE and ECSE teachers were the provision of activities for families to use at home, communication with families, online lessons, and singing songs and reading books. Both types of professionals spent more time planning and communicating with families than providing instruction to children. Results of chi-square tests of independence revealed differences in activities provided, how time was spent, and training received by professional role. Open-ended responses revealed particular challenges for ECE and ECSE teachers. Findings are discussed in the context of how the early childhood field adapted quickly to remote learning during COVID-19 and the implications for ongoing technology support for early childhood personnel based on their professional role.

     

Adolescent Parenting and Attachment During Infancy and Early Childhood

Objective. Prenatal parenting attitudes and parenting behaviors during infancy and early childhood were used as predictors of attachment in children of adolescent mothers at ages 1 and 5. Design. Seventy-eight adolescent mother - child dyads participated. Data were collected at five time points from the third trimester of pregnancy through the children's 5th year. Results. A high percentage of children exhibited disorganized and insecure attachment during both infancy and early childhood; only 30% were securely attached at 1 year and 41% at 5 years. Quality of maternal interactions and cognitive readiness to parent predicted attachment stability; however, only verbal encouragement-stimulation predicted the transition from insecure to secure attachment. Prenatal cognitive readiness to parent independently predicted attachment security at 1 year and accounted for the relation between early maternal interactions and 1-year attachment. Maternal interactions during infancy but not early childhood, predicted 5-year attachment security. Conclusions. Early parenting had a unique and persistent effect on attachment security. However, verbal stimulation during early childhood attenuated the effects of early maternal unresponsiveness on attachment security at age 5.     

也谈幼儿教育义务化——《幼儿教育能否义务化》读后感

分析当下沸沸扬扬的"幼儿教育义务化"讨论中的正反两方主要观点,研究者发现双方各有理据,但都有失之偏颇之嫌.深入探讨这一现象,研究者认为逐步开展幼教学券制试验,可能更符合当前幼教体制改革的实际需要.     

Childhood Maltreatment and the Development of Relational and Physical Aggression: The Importance of a Gender‐Informed Approach

This investigation examined the associations between maltreatment and aggression using a gender‐informed approach. Peer ratings, peer nominations, and counselor reports of aggression were collected on 211 maltreated and 199 nonmaltreated inner‐city youth (M age = 9.9 years) during a summer day camp. Maltreatment was associated with aggressive conduct; however, these effects were qualified by gender, maltreatment subtype, and the form of aggression under investigation. Findings revealed that maltreatment was associated with physical aggression for boys and relational aggression for girls. Physical abuse was associated with physically aggressive behaviors, but sexual abuse predicted relational aggression for girls only. Findings suggest that investigating the interaction between familial risk and gender is important in understanding aggressive behaviors of boys and girls.     

Father Involvement During Early Childhood and Its Association with Children's Early Learning: A Meta-Analysis

Research Findings: In the present meta-analysis, information from 21 studies (representing 22 separate samples) was pooled across a 10-year period (1998–2008). Across 2 primary dimensions of direct father involvement (frequency of positive engagement activities and aspects of parenting quality) and 5 dimensions of children's early learning (representing social and cognitive domains), findings revealed small to moderate associations. Among group differences tested to further explain the relationships between these constructs, residential status and the ethnic/racial identification of fathers' surfaced as significant moderators, whereas income status was only meaningful at the trend level. Practice or Policy: In recent years, national attention has increased concerning the important influence of fathers on children's development. Concurrently, national interest has turned to the early childhood period as marking a major transition for young children, during which children are confronted with new and diverse developmental challenges that require emotional, social, and cognitive competence across their home and school environments. Although there is a growing body of research on fatherhood and father involvement, this literature has not been examined systematically to determine the strength of associations between specific dimensions of father involvement and young children's early learning that could inform the efforts of early childhood practitioners and family engagement programming decisions.     

Relational and Overt Aggression in Disruptive Adolescents: Prediction from Early Social Representations and Links with Concurrent Problems

Children's representations of conflict and distress situations at 7 years were examined as developmental precursors to relational aggression, overt aggression, and psychiatric symptoms in early adolescence. Children were identified in early adolescence. Children were identified in preschool as normally developing or with behavior problems. Overt, but not relational, aggression, was correlated with concurrent disruptive symptoms in adolescence. Childhood predictors of adolescent aggression were found only for girls: Early hostile themes predicted more relational and overt aggression, while prosocial themes predicted less relational aggression. Also for girls only, early emotions foretold later functioning: Sadness predicted a higher ratio of relational to overt aggression, while inexpressiveness predicted disruptive, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Relational and overt aggression are discussed with regard to sex differences in symptom changes over time.     

The Reciprocal Relations Between Female and Male Play Partners and Aggression in Early Childhood

This study examined the relations between male and female play partners (PP) and relational (RA) and physical (PA) aggression in an early childhood short-term longitudinal study (N = 164, M_age = 47.11 months, SD = 7.37 months). A cross-lagged path analysis was used to examine these relations from Time 1 (T1) to Time 2 (T2), 4 months after T1, and a multiple group analysis was tested across gender. Results showed that T1 male PP predicted an increase in PA, T1 RA predicted an increase in female PP, and T1 PA predicted a decrease in female PP. One path was not equivalent across gender. A post hoc interaction between male and female PP at T1 on future RA was evaluated.     

Bilingualism Narrows Socioeconomic Disparities in Executive Functions and Self-Regulatory Behaviors During Early Childhood: Evidence From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study

Socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism have been shown to influence executive functioning during early childhood. Less is known, however, about how the two factors interact within an individual. By analyzing a nationally representative sample of approximately 18,200 children who were tracked from ages 5 to 7 across four waves, both higher SES and bilingualism were found to account for greater performance on the inhibition and shifting aspects of executive functions (EF) and self-regulatory behaviors in classroom. However, only SES reliably predicted verbal working memory. Furthermore, bilingualism moderated the effects of SES by ameliorating the detrimental consequences of low-SES on EF and self-regulatory behaviors. These findings underscore bilingualism's power to enrich executive functioning and self-regulatory behaviors, especially among underprivileged children.     

Neuroscience,Early Childhood Education and Play: We are Doing it Right!

This editorial examines neuroscience and its impact on the field of education. Starting with a narrative between two young children, the author intertwines research with basic principles of learning, using the interaction between two 4-year-olds to illustrate the precepts. The four principles are: (1) the brain is uniquely organized; (2) the brain is continually growing; (3) a “brain-compatible” classroom enables connection of learning to positive emotions; and (4) children’s brains need to be immersed in real-life, hands-on, and meaningful learning experiences. The editorial concludes with an illustration of how the brain works while two children are playing at the small animal center in their classroom.     

Early Childhood Parenting Predicts Late Childhood Brain Functional Connectivity During Emotion Perception and Reward Processing

Seventy-nine 3-year olds and their mothers participated in a laboratory-based task to assess maternal hostility. Mothers also reported their behavioral regulation of their child. Seven years later, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while viewing emotional faces and completing a reward processing task. Maternal hostility predicted more negative amygdala connectivity during exposure to sad relative to neutral faces with frontal and parietal regions as well as more negative left ventral striatal connectivity during monetary gain relative to loss feedback with the right posterior orbital frontal cortex and right inferior frontal gyrus. In contrast, maternal regulation predicted enhanced cingulo-frontal connectivity during monetary gain relative to loss feedback. Results suggest parenting is associated with alterations in emotion and reward processing circuitry 7–8 years later.