Subjective Well-Being Decreasing With Age: New Research on Children Over 8

An increasing number of scientific publications have provided data from different countries suggesting subjective well-being (SWB) continuously decreases during adolescence. A review of these publications reveals authors have used dissimilar scales in diverse countries. Using data from the international Children's Worlds project (N = 48,040), involving 15 countries, a comparative analysis was performed to determine how mean scores evolve with different SWB scales from the age of 8 onwards. The results support the hypothesis that the tendency of SWB to decrease with age starts at around 10 years of age in most countries, while also confirming that different psychometric scales display different levels of sensitivity to diverse sociocultural contexts and more than one should be used in any research on children and adolescents’ SWB.     

Field Dependence-Field Independence in 5- to 10-Year-Old Children

Abstract

A final random sample of 160 Provo, Utah, elementary school children ages 5 to 10, was included in a balanced cell format to investigate the effects of school as reflective of socioeconomic level, age, sex, and intelligence on performance on the Children’s Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), a measure of Witkin’s field-dependence-independence hypothesis appropriate for use with young children. Results implied that (1) there may be differences on criterion performance according to relative social class; (2) age is the single best predictor of criterion performance, as significant differences proceeding from relative field-dependence to greater field-independence with increasing age were found; (3) there is a similar developmental pattern to increase in verbal intellectual power and increase in relative field-independence when all ages are considered together; (4) there were no significant similarities between field-dependence-independence and verbal intelligence within three of four specific ages investigated; (5) no sex differences in criterion performance were found.     

The Production Effect Improves Memory in 7- to 10-Year-Old Children

The production effect—whereby reading words aloud improves memory for those words relative to reading them silently—was investigated in two experiments with 7- to 10-year-old children residing in Brisbane, Australia. Experiment 1 (n = 41) involved familiar printed words, with words read aloud or silently appearing either in mixed- or blocked-list formats in a within-subject design. Recognition for words read aloud was better than for those read silently, an effect consistent across both list formats. These results were confirmed in Experiment 2 (n = 40) using longer lists of printed novel nonwords. Final analyses indicated that the production effect was comparable for words and nonwords. Findings are discussed in relation to the distinctiveness account and the use of production as a mnemonic in children.     

Forgiveness,Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being Among Filipino Adolescents

This study examines the influence of forgiveness and gratitude on life satisfaction and subjective well-being among Filipino adolescents. Two hundred and ten (210) Filipino college students were recruited as respondents for the empirical inquiry. Results indicated that gratitude served as the most robust determinant of well-being after controlling demographic characteristics and forgiveness dimensions. Most importantly, gratitude and forgiveness of self, which is a dimension of forgiveness, predicted subjective well-being beyond the influence of the Big Five personality factors. These findings strengthened the empirical evidence that moral traits would have unique contributions on subjective well-being, even after controlling the impact of Big Five personality factors. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of counseling.     

Cost Effective Approaches to Identifying Developmental Delay in 4- to 7-Year-Old Children

Recent enactment of public laws have mandated early identification of children at risk for delayed development. Several complex assessment batteries have demonstrated satisfactory predictive and classificatory accuracy when biomedical and social-environmental measures obtained in infancy are used as predictors of later IQ scores. Yet, these complex batteries are too costly for wide- spread adoption. The present study examined the effectiveness of smaller sets of predictor variables for correctly identifying children as developmentally delayed at four through seven years of age. The results show that a combination of six biomedical risk items, maternal education level, and four subscale scores from the HOME scale are effective when used as a screening battery across a four year period. The practical implications are for this battery to be used to screen children in the preschool period for developmental delay in the early primary grades.     

Cost Effective Approaches to Identifying Developmental Delay in 4- to 7-Year-Old Children

Recent enactment of public laws have mandated early identification of children at risk for delayed development. Several complex assessment batteries have demonstrated satisfactory predictive and classificatory accuracy when biomedical and social-environmental measures obtained in infancy are used as predictors of later IQ scores. Yet, these complex batteries are too costly for wide- spread adoption. The present study examined the effectiveness of smaller sets of predictor variables for correctly identifying children as developmentally delayed at four through seven years of age. The results show that a combination of six biomedical risk items, maternal education level, and four subscale scores from the HOME scale are effective when used as a screening battery across a four year period. The practical implications are for this battery to be used to screen children in the preschool period for developmental delay in the early primary grades.     

Young Children Are Wishful Thinkers: The Development of Wishful Thinking in 3- to 10-Year-Old Children

Previously, research on wishful thinking has found that desires bias older children’s and adults’ predictions during probabilistic reasoning tasks. In this article, we explore wishful thinking in children aged 3- to 10-years-old. Do young children learn to be wishful thinkers? Or do they begin with a wishful thinking bias that is gradually overturned during development? Across five experiments, we compare low- and middle-income United States and Peruvian 3- to 10-year-old children (N = 682). Children were asked to make predictions during games of chance. Across experiments, preschool-aged children from all backgrounds consistently displayed a strong wishful thinking bias. However, the bias declined with age.     

The Emergence of Cognitive Maps for Spatial Navigation in 7- to 10-Year-Old Children

Although much is known about adults’ ability to orient by means of cognitive maps (mental representations of the environment), it is less clear when this important ability emerges in development. In the present study, 97 seven- to 10-year-olds and 26 adults played a video game designed to investigate the ability to orient using cognitive maps. The game required participants to reach target locations as quickly as possible, necessitating the identification and use of novel shortcuts. Seven- and 8-year-olds were less effective than older children and adults in using shortcuts. These findings provide clear evidence of a distinct developmental change around 9 years of age when children begin to proficiently orient and navigate using cognitive maps.     

3～5岁儿童面部表情命名能力的发展特点

面部表情识别是情绪理解的重要方面,是儿童个体发展和社会化的基础.本研究采用面部表情图片识别方法测试了3～5岁儿童对高兴、伤心、生气、害怕四种基本表情的命名能力.研究结果表明,3～5岁儿童的面部表情命名能力随着年龄的增长不断提高,他们对积极表情的命名能力显著优于对消极表情的命名能力,对害怕表情的识别在3～5岁这个年龄段中没有得到明显的发展.因此,对3～5岁儿童进行必要的情绪理解教育将有助于其个体情绪理解和社会适应能力的发展.     

Early Numerical Competencies in 5- and 6-Year-Old Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research Findings: To date, studies comparing the mathematical abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children are scarce, and results remain inconclusive. In general, studies on this topic focus on mathematical abilities learned from elementary school onward, with little attention for possible precursors at younger ages. The current exploratory study focused on the important developmental period of preschool age, investigating 5 early numerical competencies in 30 high-functioning children with ASD and 30 age-matched control children: verbal subitizing, counting, magnitude comparison, estimation, and arithmetic operations. Children were examined at 5 or 6 years of age, attending the 3rd and final year of preschool. Overall, rather similar early number processing was found in children with and without ASD, although marginally significant results indicated a weaker performance of children with ASD on verbal subitizing and conceptual counting. Practice or Policy: Given the pervasiveness and impact of ASD on other domains of functioning, it is important to know that no general deficits in early numerical competencies were found in this study. However, some downward trends in mathematics performance were identified in children with ASD, which can serve as the basis for additional research in this field.     

大学毕业生目标追求、心理需要满足与幸福感的关系

为考察大学毕业生目标追求与幸福感之间的关系,以及三种心理需要满足(自主需要、胜任需要、关系需要)在其中的中介作用,本研究采用问卷法对270名大学毕业生进行调查。结果显示:(1)内部目标显著正向预测幸福感,外部目标对幸福感预测作用不显著;(2)心理需要满足是内部目标与幸福感之间的中介变量,即追求内部目标有利于个体心理需要的满足,进而提升幸福感水平。三种心理需要中,自主需要和关系需要发挥了部分中介作用,胜任需要发挥了完全中介作用。     

高校青年教师的婚恋压力及主观幸福感的相关研究

本研究采用自编高校青年教师婚恋压力量表、段建华修订的总体幸福感量表,对武汉地区5所高校300名35岁以下青年教师进行调查。结果发现：高校青年教师存在较大的婚恋压力;高校青年教师主观幸福感稍微高于全国男性和女性常模,属于中等偏上;高校青年教师的伴侣压力、家庭压力、经验压力与主观幸福感显著负相关。     

试论青少年情商素质与主观幸福感的关系

一、青少年情商素质与主观幸福感的研究 情商（Emotional Quotient,EQ）,代表了一个人的情绪智力（Emotional Intelligence）。情商主要反映个体认知、理解、运用、表达、控制和调节自己情绪情感的能力,以及处理自己与他人之间情感关系的能力。情商形成于婴幼儿时期,成型于青少年阶段,它主要是在后天的人际互动中培养起来的。青少年时期是一个人的黄金时代,在这个时期,其学习和发展任务非常重要。但是,青少年由于面临着生理、     

大学生自我意识与主观幸福感的实证研究

文章从自我认知、自我体验和自我监控三方面对大学生的自我意识与主观幸福感展开实证研究,对所得数据运用SPSS13．0和LISREL8．80软件包进行统计分析,得出以下结论：（1）大学生的SWB、自我概念、自尊处于中等偏上水平,自我监控低于中等水平。（2）自我概念、自尊与SWB之间存在显著的相关,自我概念、自尊高者SWB较高,自我监控与SWB之间不存在显著相关。（3）自我概念、自尊对SWB有显著的预测作用,其解释作用达到了13．2％和26．8％;自我监控通过自我概念对SWB发挥预测作用。（4）自我意识对SWB预测的整合模型是：自我概念、自尊可独立直接预测SWB,自我监控不能独立预测SWB,但在自我概念对主体SWB的预测中发挥中介作用。     

Identifying and Nurturing Gifted Children in Israel

The article describes Israel’s approach to the education of gifted and talented children. It describes the programs for gifted and talented children in Israel and the process for selecting students for these programs. The method of selecting students for programs is consistent with the Ministry of Education’s definition of giftedness, the goals of the giftedness programs, and the characteristics of these programs. The selection method is affected by the standards required of the instruments as well as other constraints, such as the constraints on funding for this purpose.The author of this article is the director of the Szold Institute program for identifying gifted children. The project is funded by the Israeli Ministry of Education     

中学生生活事件、气质性乐观与主观幸福感的关系

一、引言 Scheier等人首次提出了气质性乐观（dispositional optimism）的概念,认为气质性乐观是对未来好结果的总体期望,是一种稳定的人格特质,是单因素模型结构。主观幸福感（subjective well-being,SWB）,指个体依据自己设定的标准对其生活质量所作的整体评价,是衡量人们生活质量的一个重要的综合性心理指标,具有主观性、整体性和稳定性等特点。     

上海市0～3岁婴幼儿早期教育指导服务的实践与思考

积极推进0～3岁婴幼儿早期教育已成为全球化的发展趋势.上海市将建立"0～6岁学前教育整体、系统、科学的一体化管理体制"作为教育改革的一项重要举措,在0～3岁婴幼儿早期教育指导服务方面开展了一系列的研究与探索,积累了一定的经验.如建立了长效工作机制,搭建了指导服务平台等.但也碰到了不少问题,如早期指导内容还是以促进婴幼儿认知、动作发展为主,忽视其积极的情绪情感和良好的个性与社会性发展;早教指导机构仍以幼儿园为主,缺乏专门机构、专用活动场所及专门师资,等等.上海市0～3岁婴幼儿早期教育指导服务工作要想取得进一步发展,必须在加大宣传力度、发挥多部门优势、完善经费投入机制等方面继续作出努力.     

城市农民工子女社会支持与主观幸福感的关系:自尊的中介与调节作用

采用“社会支持评定量表”“Rosenberg自尊量表”“生活满意度量表”和“积极/消极情感量表(中文版)”对1739名城市农民工子女进行调查,考察城市农民工子女社会支持与主观幸福感的关系以及自尊在其中所起的作用.结果发现:(1)城市农民工子女的社会支持、自尊、主观幸福感两两之间相关都非常显著;(2)城市农民工子女的社会支持水平不仅对其主观幸福感具有显著的直接影响,也可通过自尊对其产生显著的间接影响,即自尊在社会支持与主观幸福感之间起着显著的部分中介作用;(3)自尊对社会支持与主观幸福感之间关系的调节作用不显著.     

Hope,Friends, and Subjective Well‐Being: A Social Network Approach to Peer Group Contextual Effects

Research on adolescence has previously shown that factors like depression and burnout are influenced by friendship groups. Little research, however, has considered whether similar effects are present for variables such as hope and subjective well‐being. Furthermore, there is no research that considers whether the degree of hope of an adolescent's friends is associated with well‐being over the individual's level of hope. Data were collected in 2012 from a sample of 15‐year‐olds (N = 1,972; 62% Caucasian; 46% identified as Catholic; 25% had professional parents) from the East Coast of Australia. Findings suggest that individuals from the same friendship group were somewhat similar in hope and well‐being. Multilevel structural equation modeling indicated that friendship group hope was significantly related to psychological and social well‐being.