Parental coping with children's negative emotions: relations with children's emotional and social responding

This study examined the relation between parents' reactions to children's negative emotions and social competence. Additionally, the role of parental emotional distress in children's emotional socialization was examined. The emotional reactions of 57 preschoolers (33 girls, 24 boys; M age = 59.2 months) were observed during their free-play interactions. Parents (mostly mothers) completed questionnaires about their reactions to children's negative emotions. An index of children's social competence was obtained from teachers. Results indicated that the relation between harsh parental coping strategies and children's emotional responding was moderated by parental distress. In addition, the relation of the interaction of parental coping and distress to children's social competence was mediated by children's level of emotional intensity. It was concluded that distressed parents who use harsh coping strategies in response to children's negative emotions have children who express emotion in relatively intense ways. In turn, these children find it relatively difficult to behave in a socially competent manner.     

The Relation of Parental Affect and Control Behaviors to Children's Classroom Acceptance: A Concurrent and Predictive Analysis

The present study is a longitudinal examination of the relations between parental expressions of affect and parental control behaviors and children's classroom acceptance in kindergarten and first grade. One hundred-sixteen kindergarten-aged children and their parents were videotaped during physical play sessions and parents were rated on global affective and behavioral dimensions. Ratings of classroom social acceptance were provided by teachers and peers. Results indicated that parents' expressed positive and negative affect were related to children's classroom acceptance in kindergarten and in first grade. The most powerful and consistent predictor of children's social acceptance was fathers' expressed negative affect, particularly between father-son dyads. The current study emphasizes the importance of continued examination of linkages between the family and peer systems, especially with respect to the ways in which children's experiences in the family and school environments may mutually influence social development, and points to the need for further examination of the mechanisms by which multiple social contexts may influence children's behavior in the family and in school.     

Academic Orientation and Warmth in Mothers and Fathers of Preschoolers: Effects on Academic Skills and Self-Perceptions of Competence

This research examined attitudes about early academic experiences as well as parental warmth in mothers and fathers of preschool children. Additionally, the relationship of parental altitudes and parental warmth to child academic skills and self-perceptions of competence was investigated. In a sample of 48 middle class preschoolers, fathers had significantly higher expectations in three skill domains (Academic, Athletic, and Artistic), but they did not differ from mothers in attitude regarding Social and Compliance domains. No significant differences emerged between mothers and fathers in their levels of warmth. Parental warmth was not significantly correlated with parental attitudes about early academics, and neither academic attitudes nor warmth predicted child achievement on an Academic Skills Inventory. However, high correlations were found between maternal and paternal warmth and children's self-perceptions on the Harter and Pike Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance, highlighting the strong relationship between parental warmth and child self-efficacy.     

Effects of the structure of classmates' perceptions of peers' academic abilities on children's perceived cognitive competence, peer acceptance, and engagement

This study examined the effects of classroom indegree for ability (the degree to which peer nominations as academically capable show high consensus and focus on a relatively few number of children in a classroom) on first grade children's peer acceptance, teacher-rated classroom engagement, and self-perceived cognitive competence. Participants were 291 children located in 84 classrooms. Participating in sociometric interviews were 937 classmates. Consistent with social comparison theory, classroom indegree moderated the associations between children's achievement and classroom engagement and peer liking. Children with lower ability, relative to their classmates, were less accepted by peers and less engaged in classrooms in which students' perceptions of classmates' abilities converged on a relatively few number of students than in classrooms in which peers' perceptions were more dispersed. High indegree was associated with lower self-perceived cognitive competence regardless of ability level.     

国外父母数学教育观念研究进展及其启示

父母教育观念是父母教育素质的关键组成部分,它不仅直接影响父母的教育行为,而且直接或间接影响着儿童的发展.父母数学教育观念作为父母教育观念的重要分支之一,对儿童数学认知发展起着举足轻重的作用.本文对近20年国外父母数学教育观念研究及其成果,特别是父母对子女数学能力的评价、数学学业发展的期望和数学认知发展的归因等三个方面进行了深入的概括分析,并在此基础上提出了对今后父母数学教育观念研究方向与思路的建议.     

The Relationship of Family Variables to Head Start Children's Preacademic Competence

This study was conducted with a sample of 93 Head Start children and their mothers. It examined the contribution of family variables (i.e., parenting style, home literacy activities, maternal school involvement, and maternal expectations) to children's preacademic competence as defined by four criteria: (a) performance on a standardized achievement battery; (b) teachers' ratings of children's cognitive competence; (c) children's self-ratings of competence; and (d) maternal reports of children's early school adjustment. In exploring these relationships the study controlled for the influence of variables (i.e., child and maternal cognitive variables, child sex, as well as risk due to daily stress) that have been suggested to influence directly, or indirectly, maternal involvement and child competence. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that educational expectations, home literacy variables, and school involvement were predictive of children's competence even after accounting for the effects of maternal education, child IQ, and daily stress. Specifically, maternal educational expectations were predictive of preacademic achievement and teacher-rated competence. Maternal engagement in educational activities at home was predictive of children's self-efficacy beliefs and school adjustment. Maternal school involvement was also predictive of school adjustment.     

Relations Between Effective Emotional Self-Regulation, Attentional Control, and Low-Income Preschoolers' Social Competence with Peers

Relations between children's emotional self-regulation, attentional control, and peer social competence (as reported by both teachers and peers) were examined for 51 low-income, preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start. Using a short delay-of-gratification task administered at Head Start sites, children's use of self- distraction was found to be positively associated with their success in handling the delay, replicating previous, laboratory-based research. Contrary to our expectations, children's use of self-distraction was found to be unrelated to their attentional control, as assessed during a computer task. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that children's use of self-distraction predicted significant variance in both peer- and teacher-reports of childrem's competence with peers, even after children's attentional control was statistically taken into account. These findings are discussed in light of current models of reactivity and regulation in predicting young children's social behavior, as well as in the context of early intervention efforts for children facing socioeconomic risk.     

Socialization of perceived academic competence among highly competent children

A sample of 81 academically competent third graders and their parents were studied (1) to determine whether the illusion of incompetence documented for fifth graders appears in younger children, (2) to examine whether parents' competence-related perceptions significantly distinguish children with varying levels of perceived academic competence, and (3) to develop a predictive model of the association between parent and child competence beliefs. More than 20% of the children--equal proportions of girls and boys--had self-perceptions that seriously underestimated their actual high abilities, and displayed a corresponding pattern of disparaging self- and other-achievement attitudes. Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their children's abilities varied significantly with the perceived competence status of the children, as did the children's perceptions of their parents' appraisals. Using path analysis, preliminary support was found for a model in which children's perceptions of competence are influenced more by their parents' appraisals than by objective evidence of their achievements. The results are discussed in the context of research on the socialization of math attitudes and new work on parental belief systems.     

Classroom and Grade Level Differences in the Stability of Teacher Expectations and Perceived Differential Teacher Treatment

Using two independent samples of urban elementary school children from Grades 1, 3, and 5, this study explored the long-term stability of classroom learning environments that differ in the extent of differential teacher treatment favoring high achievers over low achievers, as reported by students. Classroom differences ('high' versus 'low') in perceived differential treatment were highly stable from fall to spring in Grades 3 and 5, but not in Grade 1. Stability in (a) individual children's reports of differential treatment, and (b) teacher expectations for children's year-end reading achievement was accentuated in classrooms where differential treatment was pronounced early in the year, particularly in the higher elementary grades. Findings suggest that there would be heightened risk for problematic teacher expectancy effects and other maladaptive learning outcomes in these classrooms, because stable or rigid performance expectations are coupled with classroom instructional patterns that consistently convey these expectations to children. In contrast, risk is likely to be reduced in classrooms where high and low achievers are treated more equitably in the eyes of children, because teachers' expectations for children are more flexible, and children take longer to discern differences in treatment. The overall consistency of findings in two samples supports the generalizability of the conclusions reached.     

Mothers' Concepts of Young Children's Areas of Personal Freedom

White suburban working- to upper-middle-class mothers ( N = 40) of children ages 5 and 7 were interviewed regarding their concepts of children's areas of personal discretion, autonomy, and individuality. Mothers treated standardized moral, conventional, and prudential items as issues that mothers should control, while standardized personal items were treated as up to the child. In open-ended interviews, mothers reported setting limits around issues of safety, family conventions, and daily routines but permitted children to make decisions about food, recreational activities, clothes, and playmates. Mothers viewed mother-child conflict as occurring over these same issues and viewed children's choices as helping them to develop autonomy and competence. Mothers viewed their roles as educators and nurturers and valued the development of individuality in their children, which was thought to emerge in infancy or toddlerhood. Few age differences were observed, but gender differences were found in the ways mothers characterized boys and girls' resistances to parental authority and in the content of mother-child disputes. Results were interpreted in terms of the emergence of the personal domain in children.     

Profiles of social competence among low-income African American preschool children

Relations between children's personal attributes and peer play competence were investigated in a sample of 141 African American preschool children who participated in Head Start. Variable-oriented analyses confirmed that dispositions of temperament, emotion regulation, autonomy, and language were related to children's peer play competence in the classroom. Person-oriented analyses revealed distinctive profiles of personal attributes linked to adaptive preschool social functioning. A small group of resilient children whose profile was characterized by highly adaptable temperament, ability to approach new situations, and above average vocabulary development evidenced the greatest social competence with peers. Children who were disruptive with peers were equally divided between two profiles characterized by inattention and activity, but with differential performance on vocabulary tasks. A profile containing calm, reticent children was the group least likely to engage in disruptive peer play. Inspection of the six profiles revealed the within-group variability for this economically disadvantaged sample and illustrated the differential importance of temperament, regulation, and language constructs. Findings from the profile analyses and relations with peer competence inform the study of resilience in social development for urban African American children who participate in early intervention preschool programs.     

Unique and protective contributions of parenting and classroom processes to the adjustment of African American children living in single-parent families

The unique contributions that parenting processes (high levels of monitoring with a supportive, involved mother-child relationship) and classroom processes (high levels of organization, rule clarity, and student involvement) make to children's self-regulation and adjustment were examined with a sample of 277 single-parent African American families. A multi-informant design involving mothers, teachers, and 7- to 15-year-old children was used. Structural equation modeling indicated that parenting and classroom processes contributed uniquely to children's adjustment through the children's development of self-regulation. Additional analyses suggested that classroom processes can serve a protective-stabilizing function when parenting processes are compromised, and vice versa. Further research is needed to examine processes in both family and school contexts that promote child competence and resilience.     

The Benefits of Parent Intervention in Children's Disputes: An Examnation of Concurrent Changes in Children's Fighting Styles

The impact of parental intervention on the quality of children's conflict behavior was examined using observational data from 40 English-speaking Canadian families with 2-and 4-year-old children. Children's behavior in the portions of fights that preceded their parents, interventions was compared to their behavior in fights in which there was no intervention. Also, children's behavior before parental intervention was contrasted with their behavior after intervention. It was found that parents intervened in the most intense fights between their children, fights in which the children displayed few de-escalating strategies. Parental intervention was associated with their children using fewer power strategies coupled with an increase in the use of more sophisticated negotiation moves. It was concluded that parental intervention in sibling conflict has beneficial effects in terms of the immediate quality of the children's fighting. Results were interpreted in light of contemporary models of socialization.     

Will my child ever go to a university? The link between school segregation practices and Norwegian parents’ expectations for their physically disabled child

How parents perceive their children's educational prospects can reveal a great deal about how their children will progress in the educational system. The paper examines the consequences of variations in inclusive education practices by investigating determinants of parents’ educational expectations for their child. All parents included in the study had children with physical disabilities in primary school (mainly cerebral palsy and spina bifida). The empirical material includes results from a survey (Net sample = 491), in combination with information merged from a range of official registers. The results showed that the more the child is segregated from ordinary classroom education, the lower parental expectations are for their children's educational attainments. Other factors also significantly influencing parents’ educational expectations include how parents’ view their child's school performance, as well as various measures of the severity of the child's physical disability. However, these secondary factors could not account for the empirically strong association between segregation practices and parental expectations. Parental expectations were also significantly related to parental income and education. The findings indicate that the expectations of parents with higher income and education are less affected by school segregation practices.     

Behavior Problems and Social Skills in Preschool Children: Parent-Teacher Agreement and Relations with Classroom Observations

The goals of the present investigation were to provide basic psychometric information about the use of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS: Merrill, 1994) with a sample of normally-developing preschool children, to assess agreement between parent and teacher ratings of children on this instrument, and to assess concurrent, criterion-related validity of these instruments in terms of their relations with observations of children's behavior in the classroom. Parents and teachers of 47 preschool children completed the scales and these children were observed naturalistically in the classroom setting. Overall, agreement between parents and teachers was modest (-.09 to .38). Cross-informant correlations were poor (-.09 to .27) for social skills, low (.15 to .36) for internalizing behaviors, and modest (.29 to .38) for externalizing behavior. Both parents and teachers rated boys as having more externalizing behavior problems than girls. Parents perceived their children to have more externalizing, and more overall, behavior problems than did teachers. In general, teacher reports, but not parent reports, were significantly associated with children's independently observed goal-directed activity, sustained attention, inappropriate behavior, peer affiliation, expressed negative affect, and proximity to a teacher in the classroom. Results argue for the clinical utility of the PKBS for teacher-report assessment of child behavior problems and social skills in the preschool years, and suggest the need for cross-contextual assessment. Also, it is clear that children's behavioral and social competence are crucial for optimal functioning in the preschool setting.     

Emotional Competence, Emotion Socialization, and Young Children's Peer-Related Social Competence

This study investigated linkages between aspects of emotional competence and preschoolers' social skills with peers. Whether parental emotion socialization practices contributed to the prediction of social skill once emotional competence was statistically controlled was also of interest. Eighty-one predominantly Caucasian preschoolers were videotaped as they participated in three same-sex triadic peer situations. Four peer variables were coded from the videotapes: social initiations, the frequency with which children were the targets of positive social bids, non-constructive anger-related reactions, and prosocial acts. The emotional competence measures included situation knowledge, children's explanations of emotions, positivity of emotional expression during peer play, and emotional intensity. Maternal anger directed at the child was the measure of emotion socialization. Results revealed that the emotional competence variables were meaningfully related to the peer variables and that, for non-constructive anger reactions, maternal reports of anger explained unique variance. Results are discussed in terms of how emotional competence and emotion socialization contribute to peer behavior and the importance of designing and implementing affective intervention programs for young children and their families.     

What comes after compulsory education? A follow‐up study on parental expectations of their child’s future education

This paper examines the contribution of parents’ education and children’s gender on parental expectations of their children’s future education and the role of parental perceptions of their child’s competencies in the formation of their expectations. A group of university and vocationally educated parents (N = 418) were asked to estimate the probability of their child entering gymnasium (high school) or vocational education and assess the child’s competencies, first in preschool, and then at the end of the third school year. It was found that the education and gender‐bound differences in the parental expectations were established before the child entered school, and by the end of the third school year the relationships between expectations and competence assessments strengthened and were more uniform among the parents. The findings suggested that the parental assessments of their child’s abilities can be regarded as a potentially important social‐psychological process through which social differences are transformed into the individualized interpretations of the child’s educational prospects.     

Experiences in day care and social competence among maltreated children

The experience of 39 preschool-age maltreated children from 13 child care facilities was examined to determine the extent to which the children's social development was related to the quality of day-care service. Maltreated children assigned by the Arkansas Department of Social Services to three different types of child care facilities were observed: specialized day-care programs, regular day-care centers and family day homes. The children scored below average in intelligence and were rated by their parents as displaying higher than normal rates of disturbed behavior. While no comparison group of non-maltreated children was included in the study, observations of the maltreated children in the child care setting revealed substantially more positive than negative social behavior. The children were reasonably effective in interacting with adult caregivers in day care. The maltreated children were also productive in most encounters with peers. Ratings of the quality of care received in day care were significantly correlated with the children's social competence in child care. Aspects of social behavior in maltreated children were related to the organization of the program, the physical facilities, traits of the caregiver, and caregiver expectations for the children.     

L.A. Stories: Aggression in Preschoolers' Spontaneous Narratives after the Riots of 1992

64 inner-city preschoolers' spontaneous story narratives that were examined directly after the Los Angeles riots of 1992 were compared with narratives told by a matched comparison group of 128 children living in other U.S. cities who had no direct exposure to the riots. Narratives were coded for length, complexity, overall thematic content, character behavior in the stories, number of aggressive words, and story outcome. Children were given language and pre-academic skill assessments, their classroom behavior was observed, and teachers rated children's social competence. Results indicated that there were significant group differences in the story narratives. Children who were directly exposed to the riots told more narratives with aggressive thematic content, aggressive words, unfriendly figures who engaged in physical aggression, and mastery of situations with aggression than did the comparison group of children who had no direct exposure to the riots. The findings suggest that children's narratives reflected their exposure to the violence and their expression of that experience.