Shyness and Socioemotional Functioning in Young Chinese Children: The Moderating Role of Receptive Vocabulary

The goal of this study was to explore links among shyness, receptive vocabulary, and indices of socioemotional functioning in a sample of young children in mainland urban China. In particular, we sought to examine the potential moderating role of receptive language in these relations. Participants were N = 360 young children (200 boys, 160 girls, M_age = 4.72 years, SD = 0.63) attending preschool/kindergartens in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Multisource assessments were employed, including maternal ratings (child shyness), standardized tests (receptive vocabulary), child self-reports collected during individual interviews (loneliness), teacher ratings (child internalizing problems), and peer nominations (peer liking). Results indicated that receptive vocabulary moderated (buffering effect) the relations between shyness and several indices of socioemotional functioning. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of language skills for early school adjustment of young shy Chinese children.     

Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations Between Children's Sleep and Cognitive Functioning: The Moderating Role of Parent Education

Relations between children's sleep and cognitive functioning were examined over 2 years, and race and socioeconomic status were assessed as moderators of effects. Third-grade African American and European American children ( N  =   166; M  =   8.72 years) participated at Time 1 and again 2 years later ( N  =   132). At both Time 1 and Time 2, sleep was examined via self-report and actigraphy. Children were administered selected tests from the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, and Stanford Achievement Test scores were obtained from schools. Children's sleep was related to intellectual ability and academic achievement. Results build substantially on an emerging literature supportive of the importance of sleep in children.     

Teachers as Air Traffic Controllers: Helping Adolescents Navigate the Unfriendly Skies of Executive Functioning

The purpose of this article is to familiarize teachers with the concept of executive functioning and to provide them with a collection of strategies that they can use to help support middle and high school students with planning, organization, task-initiation, and impulse control.     

The Role of Emotionality and Regulation in Children's Social Functioning: A Longitudinal Study

Multiple measures of children's emotionality (emotional intensity and negative affectivity), regulation (including attentional and behavioral regulation and coping), and social functioning (teachers' reports of nonaggressive/socially appropriate behavior and prosocial/socially competent behavior; and parents' reports of problem behavior) were obtained for 6–8-year-olds. In addition, emotionality, attentional regulation, and coping were assessed 2 years previously. Social functioning was expected to be predicted by low negative emotionality and high levels of regulation. In general, the data supported the predictions, although the findings for parent reports of problem behavior were primarily for boys. Prediction of social functioning from measures of regulation and emotionality occurred primarily within a given context (school vs. home) rather than across contexts, even though there were relations across reporters within the school or home context. In addition, vagal tone, a marker of physiological regulation, was positively related to competent social functioning and emotionality/regulation for boys, but inversely related for girls.     

Developmental Trajectories of Acculturation: Links With Family Functioning and Mental Health in Recent‐Immigrant Hispanic Adolescents

The present study was designed to examine acculturative changes, and their effects on mental health and family functioning, in recent‐immigrant Hispanic adolescents. A sample of 302 Hispanic adolescents was assessed five times over a 2½‐year period. Participants completed measures of Hispanic and U.S. practices, collectivist and individualist values, and ethnic and U.S. identity at each time point. Baseline and Time 5 levels of mental health and family functioning were also assessed. Latent class growth analyses produced two‐class solutions for practices, values, and identifications. Adolescents who increased over time in practices and values reported the most adaptive mental health and family functioning. Adolescents who did not change in any acculturation domain reported the least favorable mental health and family functioning.     

Social Dominance in Adolescence: The Moderating Role of the Classroom Context and Behavioral Heterogeneity

This study investigates socially dominant adolescents: students who are actively involved in establishing peer norms, influence their classmates' opinions, and are often the center of attention. Data from 5,468 seventh graders ( M age = 13.3; 53% girls) in 266 classrooms were used to examine how social dominance relates to achievement, peer acceptance and rejection, self-perception, and deviance and to investigate contextual moderators of these associations. Multilevel analyses confirmed social dominance to be associated with both positive and negative adjustment. Moreover, the associations with achievement and disruptive behavior were moderated by the normativeness of these behaviors within the classroom. Finally, latent profile analyses revealed 4 distinct types of highly dominant students, 2 well adjusted and 2 poorly adjusted.     

Trajectories of Ethnic‐Racial Discrimination Among Ethnically Diverse Early Adolescents: Associations With Psychological and Social Adjustment

Using longitudinal data, the authors assessed 585 Dominican, Chinese, and African American adolescents (Grades 6–8, M_age at W1 = 11.83) to determine patterns over time of perceived ethnic‐racial discrimination from adults and peers; if these patterns varied by gender, ethnicity, and immigrant status; and whether they are associated with psychological (self‐esteem, depressive symptoms) and social (friend and teacher relationship quality, school belonging) adjustment. Two longitudinal patterns for adult discrimination and three longitudinal patterns for peer discrimination were identified using a semiparametric mixture model. These trajectories were distinct with regard to the initial level, shape, and changes in discrimination. Trajectories varied by gender and ethnicity and were significantly linked to psychological and social adjustment. Directions for future research and practice are discussed.     

The Academic Achievement of Adolescents from Immigrant Families: The Role of Family Background, Attitudes, and Behavior

The goal of this study was to determine the relative impact of family background, parental attitudes, peer support, and adolescents' won attitudes and behaviors on the academic achievement of students from immigrant families. Approximately 1,100 adolescents with Latino, East Asian, Filipino, and European backgrounds reported on their own academic attitudes and behaviors as well as those of their parents and peers. In addition, students' course grades were obtained from their official school records. Results indicated that first and second generation students received higher grades in mathematics and English than their peers from native families. Only a small portion of their success could be attributed to their socioeconomic background; a more significant correlate of their achievement was a strong emphasis on education that was shared by the students, their parents, and their peers. These demographic and psychosocial factors were also important in understanding the variation in academic performance among the immigrant students themselves.     

Exposure to Interparental Conflict and Children''s Adjustment and Physical Health: The Moderating Role of Vagal Tone

Physiological regulation, as indexed by baseline vagal tone and delta vagal tone (the change in vagal tone during an attention-demanding or challenging task), was examined as a moderator in the relations between exposure to verbal and physical parental marital conflict and children's adjustment and physical health. Higher vagal tone was posited to serve a protective function (i.e., buffer) for children exposed to higher levels of marital conflict. Seventy-five 8- to 12-year-olds and their mothers completed measures of parental conflict, and children's adjustment and physical health. Children's vagal tone was assessed during baseline conditions and during exposure to an audiotaped interadult argument. Results indicate that higher vagal tone buffered children against increased externalizing, internalizing, and health problems related to exposure to more frequent marital conflict, especially verbal conflict. Further, higher levels of delta vagal tone protected boys against externalizing problems associated with verbal conflict, and health problems associated with physical conflict.     

Attachment Security and Developmental Patterns of Growth in Executive Functioning During Early Elementary School

Despite the extensive research demonstrating the importance of child executive functioning (EF) for school adjustment, little longitudinal work has formally examined developmental change in EF during the early school years. Based on a sample of 106 mother–child dyads, the current longitudinal study investigated patterns of growth in child performance on three executive tasks between kindergarten (M_age = 6 years) and Grade 3 (M_age = 9 years), and the predictive role of earlier mother–child attachment security in these patterns. The results suggest that early elementary school is a period of significant developmental improvement in child EF, although child performance on different EF tasks follows distinct trajectories across time. The study also provides evidence for a sustained relation between children's early attachment security and their ongoing acquisition of executive skills.     

Self-Control Interventions That Benefit Executive Functioning and Academic Outcomes in Early and Middle Childhood

ABSTRACT

Objective and Outcomes: In this paper we describe extant child self-regulation and self-control interventions that benefit executive functioning and academic outcomes. We review interventions that occur in preschool, as well as those that are designed for elementary school-aged children. Outcomes include concurrent and later executive functioning gains, school readiness, school transition, and educational achievement. Our primary focus is on scientifically rigorous, prospective research, and we discuss international interventions that target child self-control from multiple perspectives. Conclusions and Implications for Research and Practice: We conclude by proposing future directions, highlighting areas where additional research is needed. In particular, studies measuring preschool/school readiness and transition, investigations that examine both socio-emotional and cognitive aspects of self-control development in the context of intervention, research integrating parents, families and schools, and more comprehensive, longitudinal studies of how these interventions affect academic outcomes would contribute greatly to this emerging literature.     

From External Regulation to Self-Regulation: Early Parenting Precursors of Young Children's Executive Functioning

In keeping with proposals emphasizing the role of early experience in infant brain development, this study investigated the prospective links between quality of parent–infant interactions and subsequent child executive functioning (EF), including working memory, impulse control, and set shifting. Maternal sensitivity, mind-mindedness and autonomy support were assessed when children were 12 to 15 months old ( N  =   80). Child EF was assessed at 18 and 26 months. All three parenting dimensions were found to relate to child EF. Autonomy support was the strongest predictor of EF at each age, independent of general cognitive ability and maternal education. These findings add to previous results on child stress-response systems in suggesting that parent–child relationships may play an important role in children's developing self-regulatory capacities.     

The Social Functions of Attributional Face-Saving Tactics Among Early Adolescents

A series of experiments that examine the social functions of failure accounts are reviewed. The findings with American students showed that by fourth grade (1) students understand that low ability and lack of effort attributions affect teacher and peer approval, and (2) that students vary their own failure accounts in ways that are consistent with their beliefs regarding linkages between attributions and social responses. Subsequent experiments were conducted with Finnish students to investigate why early adolescents are willing to portray themselves as low in ability. Finnish students, like their American counterparts, preferred to convey to both teachers and peers that they failed because of low ability. They believed low ability accounts facilitate both teacher and peer approval as well as promote perceptions of self-effacement and honesty. The findings suggest that early adolescents are motivated to tell liked others that their failures are due to lack of competence because it offers a number of social benefits.     

大学生归因风格在希望与学习适应性间的调节作用

通过对来自本省三所大学390名大学生的问卷调查,探讨希望对学习适应性的影响以及归因风格在其中的调节作用.结果显示:希望,乐观归因风格、总体乐观在学习适应性上的标准回归系数为正且显著,悲观归因风格的回归系数为负且显著;随着总体乐观水平的提高,希望对学习适应性的影响逐渐增强.结论:归因风格显著调节希望对学习适应性的影响.     

Predictors of Cheating among Early Adolescents: Academic and Social Motivations

This study examined the relations between middle school students' self-reported cheating and several indicators of academic and social motivation. It was hypothesized that students' academic self-efficacy and personal and classroom goal orientations would predict cheating. Social motivations were presumed to predict cheating above and beyond achievement motivation. Four dimensions of relationships within schools were measured: participation structure, teacher commitment and competence, teacher respect, and sense of school belonging. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict classification as a cheater or noncheater. Although academic motivation variables predicted cheating, the addition of the relationship variables significantly improved the classification rates. The final model included grade in school, academic self-efficacy, extrinsic goal orientation, participation structure, teacher commitment, and teacher respect. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

中国七城市青少年社会适应状况的综合评估

社会适应是反映个体心理健康水平的重要指标,对衡量青少年的成长与发展状况有着重要价值。采用分层整群抽样法,对哈尔滨、北京、西安、武汉、昆明、上海和广州等七城市共4898名中学生施测"青少年社会适应状况评估问卷",以考察我国城市青少年的社会适应总体状况。结果表明,七城市青少年的整体社会适应状况良好。但从不同的角度呈现出以下主要特点:一、城市青少年在人际和自我领域的适应状况优于行为和环境领域;二、男生在自我、行为和环境领域的适应优于女生,而女生在人际领域适应好于男生;三、所在城市的GDP水平对青少年社会适应也有所影响,在自我肯定、自我烦扰、违规行为、积极应对以及消极退缩5个维度上,欠发达的第三类城市优于第一、二类城市;四、存在显著的校际差异,在青少年社会适应的所有维度上重点学校都优于非重点学校,两类学校的学生在三种社会适应状况类型中的人数分布也存在明显差异。五、家庭社会经济地位对青少年社会适应的大多数维度影响显著,与中、低家庭社会经济地位的青少年相比,高家庭社会经济地位的青少年社会适应状况更为理想。     

Hispanic Immigrant Children's English Language Acquisition: The Role of Socioeconomic Status and Early Care Arrangement

Research Findings: Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten cohort, this study investigates whether socioeconomic status (SES) moderates the association between center-based early childhood education (ECE) and English proficiency at kindergarten entry for 1st- and 2nd-generation Hispanic immigrant children. Results show significant, positive main effects of ECE and SES on English proficiency. However, results also reveal that the association between ECE and English proficiency differs by SES. Among 1st- and 2nd-generation Hispanic children from very low-SES households, the odds of being proficient in English for children who attended ECE is more than double the odds for children who did not attend ECE. In contrast, the association between ECE and English proficiency for higher SES children did not reach significance. Additional analyses reveal similar patterns for income but not maternal education. Practice or Policy: These results highlight the need for ECE programs that target the poorest Hispanic immigrant children.     

清初遗民诗坛格局与泰州遗民诗群

清初遗民诗,在清代诗史乃至整个中国古代诗歌发展史上均产生过深远的影响。由于地理区域以及文化背景的原因,清初泰州遗民诗群是一个既具独特文化个性,又与维扬遗民诗群有着隶属关系的创作群体。泰州遗民诗群的构成比较复杂,这个诗群主要由泰州本籍遗民与流寓泰州的外籍遗民两部分构成,代表人物是吴嘉纪和冒襄。尽管是一个隐逸型的诗人群体,却呈现出极具个性的群体心态。由于相同的社会背景和生存环境,以及相似的人生境遇,使泰州遗民诗群在创作上体现出较为一致的特征。     

大学生自尊与焦虑的关系:社会支持的调节作用

为探讨大学生自尊、社会支持与焦虑之间的关系,采用自尊量表、青少年社会支持量表和焦虑自评量表对328名大学生进行问卷调查。结果表明,自尊与焦虑呈显著负相关。自尊显著负向预测大学生焦虑。社会支持在自尊与焦虑之间起调节作用。社会支持较高时,高自尊的大学生焦虑水平越低。因此,提高自尊和社会支持,有助于干预、预防大学生焦虑情绪,促进大学生的心理健康。     

Pathways to Achievement: Career and Educational Aspirations and Expectations of Latina/o Immigrant Parents and Early Adolescents

Drawing on sociocultural and related theories, 4 questions examined career and educational aspirations and expectations among 24 immigrant Latina/o early adolescents and their parents as predictors of students’ grades. First, adolescents’ career aspirations and expectations were correlated, and both parents and adolescents held educational aspirations that exceeded their expectations. Second, most adolescents and parents held congruent educational aspirations. Third, congruence between students’ career and educational aspirations was uncommon. Fourth, parents’ educational aspirations and adolescents’ career–education congruence predicted students’ grades. Discussion highlights students’ ongoing reconciliation between aspirations and academic skills and multiple ways immigrant Latino parents contribute to their adolescents’ future.