Friendship Networks of Unpopular, Average, and Popular Children

Existence of friendship and friendship network characteristics were examined among children who differed in popularity status using a relatively unrestricted friendship nomination procedure. Fifth and sixth graders ( N = 227 ) completed a rating-scale sociometric to index popularity and provided information on up to 15 good friends. Results indicated that all children reported having at least one unilateral friend. Unpopular children were less likely than popular children to have at least one reciprocal friend, although the large majority (77%) did have a reciprocal friend. Results also indicated that unpopular children's unilateral friendship networks, in comparison to the networks of their more popular peers, contained a greater number of younger school-age friends and fewer same-age friends, more friends located outside of the school but within the same school district, and more unpopular and fewer popular school friends. Unpopular children's reciprocal friendship networks were significantly smaller, were more evenly distributed within and outside of the classroom, and contained fewer average and popular friends as well as friends of the opposite sex. Findings suggest advantages to using an unrestricted friendship nomination instrument and emphasize the need to consider both popularity and friendship when investigating children's peer relationships.     

学业不良儿童与普通儿童社会支持的对比研究

社会支持是学业不良儿童社会性发展研究的重要内容,本文采用问卷法对189名学业不良儿童和205名普通儿童进行对比研究,结果表明:(1)学业不良儿童在获得父母亲、教师和同性朋友的总体社会支持上均少于普通儿童,并且在母亲支持和教师支持上存在显著差异;(2)在父母和教师的多项具体社会支持内容上,学业不良儿童的得分也显著低于普通儿童;(3)学业不良儿童更倾向于从异性朋友那里获得陪伴娱乐性支持和亲密感。     

The Relationship of Classroom Organisation to Cross‐age and Cross‐sex Friendships

The friendship nominations of 40 standard 2 children (aged 8‐10 years), 20 in multi‐level and 20 in single‐level classes, were examined. Children nominated friends, including age and whether they went to the same school, by writing down friends’ names in class and stating them verbally in an interview situation. Children were asked in the interview about their best friends, their views on cross‐sex and cross‐age friendships, and what friends do together. Results showed that 65% of interview‐nominated and 56% of class‐nominated friends were of the same age, while 91% of interview‐nominated and 81% of class‐nominated friends were of the same sex. Children from multi‐level classes had significantly more different aged friends on class and interview measures, and more different sexed friends on the class measure, than children from single‐level classes. Children's out‐of‐school friendships were more likely to be with cross‐age or cross‐sex children than were their in‐school friendships. Children tended to give positive reasons for playing with different aged friends, such as learning from more skilled older friends and feeling responsible when nurturing younger children, but few positive reasons were given for playing with opposite sex friends. Most children expressed a lack of interest or even a dislike for the activities and characteristics of the opposite sex.     

“We Talked About Sex.” “No,We Didn't”: Exploring Adolescent and Parent Agreement About Sexuality Communication

Family communication about sex can protect adolescents from risky behavior, like early sex and sex without protection. However, adolescents and parents often disagree about whether they talked with each other about sexual issues, limiting the protective effects of communication. Few studies explore these disagreements. This study included 27 pairs of early adolescents and parents. Adolescent and parent interviews were coded for agreement in reports of sexuality communication. Adolescents’ interview themes were compared across levels of agreement between adolescent–parent dyads. Adolescents who highly agreed with their parents were more likely than those who did not to describe positive parental approaches to sexuality communication and awareness of parental perspectives, while no group differences were found for responses to parents’ viewpoints. Study findings highlight the importance of sex education programs that support adolescent–parent sexuality communication, particularly for middle school students.     

THEORETICAL PROBLEMS IN THE EXPLANATION OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

The study investigated the extent of different types of contacts between home and school for a representative sample of 60 families of children with Down's syndrome who attended a range of different schools in 13 local education authorities (LEAs). The children were aged between five and nine years old. Data were obtained in semi‐structured interviews with mothers as part of a larger study of parents’ views of their children's schooling.

Basic links between home and schools (e.g. parents’ attendance at events such as open days, occasional visits to see a teacher) were common but parental involvement in the class‐room or in carrying out work at home on the teacher's suggestion was less common, and there was little evidence of parent‐professional partnership in areas such as joint decision‐making on educational programmes. Contacts between the children and their school friends outside school were few and there was a significant relationship between the frequency of these and the amount of parental contact with the schools. The factors related to amount of parental involvement were the child having started at the school before the age of four and the amount of support the mother received at home. There were no significant effects of social class or type of school.

The majority of mothers appeared to be motivated to maintain home‐school links, and many wanted more opportunities to be provided for involvement, particularly in areas such as helping or observation in the classroom.     

Same- and cross-sex friends: Implications for interaction and social skills

Sex cleavages in toddler peer groups were investigated in two studies. In the first study, playmate preferences and initiations and responses to friends were examined. Three types of initiations and their responses were examined during the free play of 46 toddlers in day care centers. A preference for same-sex playmates was strongest in the oldest girls. Boys tended to ignore or refuse girls' initiations when the initiations took the form of specific requests to play a game compared with a more general approach. Friendships tended to be made with members of the same sex. However, children having same- and opposite-sex friends were less likely to initiate and respond to friends on the basis of sex. Children with fewer same-sex preferences initiated more games.In the second study, cross-sex friendships in 329 early toddlers, late toddlers, and preschool children were examined. Some children in all age groups had cross-sex friends, but the number decreased with age. Children with cross-sex friends appeared more socially skilled than children without cross-sex friends.     

Initiating day care at three years of age: effects on attachment

Using the Ainsworth-Wittig strange situation, 12 42-month-old children with approximately 6-months of day-care experience were compared with individually matched children who had not had group child-rearing experience; 8 members of each experience group were female, and 4 members were male. While the day-care children showed less distress than the home-care children in the latter parts of the laboratory situation, the 2 groups were not different with respect to most other behaviors, including those toward the mother. However, day-care experience appeared to have differential effects as a function of sex; large differences were often found between the scores of the male subgroups, whereas the differences between the female subgroups were usually small. The day-care males exhibited the most exploratory manipulation, and the home-care males showed the most approach and proximity seeking toward the mother and the strongest approach toward and avoidance of the stranger. These results did not support the idea that day-care experience impair attachment to the mother.     

Predictors of Behavior Problems in Preschool Children of Inner-City Afro-American and Puerto Rican Adolescent Mothers

Maternal reports on the Child Behavior Checklist/2-3 (CBCL/2-3) were used to evaluate child, maternal, and environmental predictors of behavior problems in 83 preschool children of disadvantaged adolescent mothers. CBCL/2-3 scores correlated modestly with independent ratings of child difficult behaviors observed in videotaped mother-child play interactions. 13% of children had scores in the clinical range. Significant correlations were consistently found between CBCL/2-3 ratings and maternal depressive symptoms, social supports, and life stress—assessed 3 times during the first year postpartum. In hierarchical regression analyses, maternal depressive symptoms, residence with the adolescent's mother, and perceived emotional support from friends contributed most to the explained variance. A significant ethnicity and child gender interaction term also suggested that African American mothers of male children reported more behavioral problems. Findings evidence the heterogeneity of outcomes for children of disadvantaged adolescent mothers but also demonstrate how correlates of poverty negatively affect their socioemotional development.     

Adoptive Gay Father Families: A Longitudinal Study of Children’s Adjustment at Early Adolescence

Findings are presented from the second phase of a UK longitudinal study of 33 gay father, 35 lesbian mother, and 43 heterosexual parent families when their adopted children reached early adolescence. Participants predominantly lived in urban/suburban areas and were mostly white and well-educated. Standardized interviews, observations, and questionnaires of parental mental health, parent–child relationships, and adolescent adjustment were administered to parents, children, and teachers between 2016 and 2018. There were few differences between family types. However, adjustment problems had increased in all family types, with better parenting quality and parental mental health associated with fewer adjustment problems. The findings contribute to adoption policy and practice, and to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender in child development.     

Age Differences in Support Processes in Conversations between Friends

The purpose of this study was to examine age differences in the use and effectiveness of social support processes emitted during conversations about real life negative events between preadolescent, adolescent, and adult friends. Age differences were found for 3 forms of support. Older supporters made more excuses and engaged in less distraction than preadolescent supporters, and adult supporters validated more excuses than younger supporters. Talking to friends alleviated negative affect in subjects of all ages, however factors predicting reductions in negative affect differed across age. Preadolescents felt better when friends distracted them from their problems, and adults felt better when friends helped them evade responsibility for their problems. Specific support processes did not predict affect changes for adolescents, but adolescent girls felt better after the conversation than adolescent boys. Results are explained in terms of age differences in self-validation and intimacy needs, experience co-constructing reality and providing social support, and refinement of social skills.     

Schooling and the Normalisation of Sex Talk within the Home

This paper addresses public concern over the extent to which the school has supplanted parental responsibilities for the sex education of their children. This concern is investigated through a series of interviews with parents of adolescent children. I argue that rather than focus on an opposition between the intrusive school and the private domestic unit, the problem with sex education is located within the domestic unit as parents had difficulties in initiating discussion on sexual matters. Far from being intrusive, most parents saw the school as a crucial source of information and support. Parents operated confidently at a more informal level of sex talk within the home. Findings suggest that although parents admit to a degree of anxiety, through the family routine parents were able to ‘normalise’ sex talk within the home and gain insights into their children's sexual awareness.     

Contact With Grandparents Among Children Conceived Via Donor Insemination by Lesbian and Heterosexual Mothers

Objective. This study compared the networks of extended family and friendship relationships of children conceived via donor insemination with lesbian versus heterosexual parents. Design. Eighty families participated; 55 of the families were headed by lesbian parents and 25 were headed by heterosexual parents. Parents reported their children's contact with grandparents and other important adults. Results. Most children had regular contact with grandparents, other relatives, and adult nonrelatives outside their immediate households, and there were no differences in this regard as a function of parental sexual orientation. Both children of lesbian and heterosexual parents had more frequent contact with the parents of their biological mother than with the parents of their father or other mother. Conclusions. Contrary to negative stereotypes, children of lesbian mothers were described as having regular contact with grandparents. Regardless of parental sexual orientation, children were described as being in more frequent contact with grandparents to whom they were biologically linked.     

Exploring the role of parents in supporting recreational book reading beyond primary school

Levels of aliteracy have been found to rise in adolescence, and this article explores the potential influence of parents on this trend. The views of adolescent students who took part in semi‐structured interviews for the West Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading (WASABR) provide insight into how parental support may change in the adolescent years. Student perspectives support earlier findings that there is an expiration of parental encouragement in many cases, though this sometimes occurs as children are avid readers and thus the support is no longer deemed necessary. The experiences of students with parents who provided continued encouragement into adolescence are examined, with consistent characteristics emerging from the qualitative data. The article identifies optimal mechanisms through which parents can play an important role in supporting their children's recreational book reading into adolescence.     

Keeping friends safe: a prospective study examining early adolescent's confidence and support networks

There is a continued need to consider ways to prevent early adolescent engagement in a variety of harmful risk-taking behaviours for example, violence, road-related risks and alcohol use. The current prospective study examined adolescents’ reports of intervening to try and stop friends’ engagement in such behaviours among 207 early adolescents (mean age?=?13.51?years, 50.1% females). Findings showed that intervening behaviour after three months was predicted by the confidence to intervene which in turn was predicted by student and teacher support although not parental support. The findings suggest that the benefits of positive relationship experiences might extend to the safety of early adolescent friendship groups particularly through the development of confidence to try and stop friends’ risky and dangerous behaviours. Findings from the study support the important role of the school in creating a culture of positive adolescent behaviour whereby young people take social responsibility.     

Moral and civic responsibility and the commercialization of higher education

Abstract

This paper examines religious affiliation and commitment of teenagers as a function of the quality of mother‐child interaction and the mothers’ religious commitment, as an illustration of the principle that transmission of parental norms and values to their children is facilitated or inhibited by the quality of their interaction. We expected that in cases where mother‐child interaction was good, parents would be better able to impose their own values upon their children, resulting in a lower disaffiliation and higher religious commitment in high quality of family‐interaction families. This expectation was tested using data from 223 British adolescent‐mother pairs, by means of logistic and ordinary regression analysis. The results largely supported the hypotheses, exemplifying how mothers in their role of moral agents may profit from good mother‐child relationships.     

Behavioral, Affective, and Social Correlates of Involvement in Cross-Sex Friendship in Elementary School

The purpose of this study was to compare children with and without cross-sex friends on measures of social and cognitive competence, endorsement of sex-role stereotypes, and family composition. Subjects were 723 third and fourth graders (377 girls, 346 boys) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds; 35% were African American. Measures included sociometric assessments of peer acceptance, friendship, and behavioral reputation, as well as self-reports of perceived self-competence and endorsement of sex-role stereotypes. In addition, teachers completed ratings of children's social and cognitive competence. In all, 92 children, about 14% of the sample, had one or more reciprocal opposite-sex friends; for 21 of these children, their cross-sex friendships were their primary or only friendships. African American children were more likely than European American children to have opposite-sex friends. Involvement in cross-sex friendships was unrelated to the gender make-up of the classroom, but was related to family structure. Comparisons of the children who had primarily or only cross-sex friends to matched groups of children who had only same-sex friends and to children who had cross-sex friends secondarily to same-sex ones revealed a number of differences between the groups in social competence and relationships with peers. Overall, children with primarily opposite-sex friends had poorer social skills than other children with friends, although they were less stereotyped about sex roles than other children, and were better adjusted than children with no friends on most measures. In contrast, children involved in opposite-sex friendship secondarily to same-sex friendship were as well adjusted socially as children with only same-sex friendships. These results suggest that children with cross-sex friends differ among themselves, depending on the primacy of the cross-sex relationship.     

Family Structure and Psychosocial Correlates among Urban African-American Adolescent Males

Substance use and delinquency, psychological well-being, and social support were compared across 5 family constellations among 254 urban African-American adolescent males. Single-mother, stepparent, both parents, mother with extended family, and extended family only households were studied. The only differences found were that youth living in single-mother households reported more parental support than other youth. Relationships with father and male role models were also studied and related to several psychosocial outcomes. The results challenge the assumptions that single African-American mothers are alone in providing support to their sons and that fathers' absence results in no significant relationship.     

Abusive parents' reports of child behavior problems: relationship to observed parent-child interactions

PURPOSE: We evaluated the hypothesis that abusive parents' reports may exaggerate rates of child behavior problems in a clinical sample. METHOD: The association between parental ratings of behavior problems and independent observations of child behaviors was examined in a sample of 205 clinic-referred families, 58 of which had a reported history of physical abuse. RESULTS: Relative to the comparison group, parents in the abuse group reported more externalizing problems in their children after controlling for parental psychopathology, and displayed more emotionally controlling and less supportive behavior during parent-child interactions. However, there was no association between abuse history and observed child behaviors during the interaction tasks. Abuse status significantly moderated the association between parent-reported externalizing behaviors and observed demanding behavior by the child; the association was significant among comparison families, but not in the abuse group families. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that abusive parents may over-report externalizing behavior problems in their children.     

Emotional support and adjustment over a year's time following sexual abuse discovery

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated age and gender differences in perceived emotional support in children and adolescents who experienced sexual abuse from the time of discovery to 1 year later. Also examined were the relations among sources of support and adjustment and whether support explained resilience, defined as better adjustment over a year's time. METHOD: One hundred and forty-seven sexually abused youth were interviewed at the time of discovery (T1) and 1 year later (T2). Information gathered included severity of the sexual abuse, satisfaction with support from caregivers, same-sex and other-sex friends, feelings of shame about the abuse, and attributional style. Youth adjustment was measured using reports from the youth themselves, caregivers, and teachers. RESULTS: Children reported the most satisfaction with support from caregivers followed by friends whereas adolescents reported similar levels of support from friends and caregivers. Satisfaction with support was differentially related to adjustment. Youth who reported more satisfaction with caregiver support at T1, reported less depression, better self-esteem but more sexual anxiety 1 year later. More satisfaction with support from friends predicted lower self-esteem but less sexual anxiety. More satisfaction with initial caregiver support at T1 predicted better parent- and teacher-rated adjustment 1 year later, after controlling for initial adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: In general, initial caregiver emotional support at the time of abuse discovery predicted resilience in child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse. Findings suggested that treatment should include a focus on helping caregivers provide appropriate emotional support.