Hierarchical Models of Social Competence in Preschool Children: A Multisite,Multinational Study

The generality of a multilevel factorial model of social competence (SC) for preschool children was tested in a 5‐group, multinational sample (N = 1,540) using confirmatory factor analysis. The model fits the observed data well, and tests constraining paths for measured variables to their respective first‐order factors across samples also fit well. Equivalence of measurement models was found at sample and sex within‐sample levels but not for age within sample. In 2 groups, teachers’ ratings were examined as correlates of SC indicators. Composites of SC indicators were significantly associated with both positive and negative child attributes from the teachers’ ratings. The findings contribute to understanding of both methodological and substantive issues concerning SC in young children.     

Cultivating Student Global Competence: A Pilot Experimental Study

Although student global competence has been recognized as an important learning outcome by more and more colleges and universities, campus internationalization efforts remain fragmented and largely ineffective. We proposed a pedagogical intervention that provided students from China and the U.S. with opportunities to establish virtual contact and to work collaboratively on international business related research papers. Then, we operationalized global competence as a three‐dimensional concept and designed an instrument to measure student global competence. The results provided some initial evidence on American students’ significantly lower performance in global knowledge and attitude, and confirmed the proposed pedagogical intervention as an easy‐to‐use and effective supplement to develop student global competence.     

远程学习:一种知识能力的社会革命

远程学习是一种完全有异于传统课堂学习的新型学习方式，作为一种知识能力的社会革命，它带给人们的是一种全新的教育理念和教育使命,如今这样一个学习化社会，我们有必要对这样一种受人们喜爱和广泛关注的现代学习形式，进行深入的研究，本文以陕西电视大学的教学实践为例，着重探讨了远程学习的基本特点，理论决策和实践方法，以期为我们指导远程学习者进行远程学习，提供可资借鉴的方法论依据。     

Improving the CBT Development Process Through Knowledge Sharing: An Empirical Study

In this paper, techniques from the research field of knowledge management are used to improve the maturity of the Computer Based Training (CBT) development process at an IT-oriented organization involved in producing courseware. The project team is facilitated with a knowledge-sharing solution that enables them to unambiguously define their project process, and link templates and best practices to the activities in that process. In addition, a virtual discussion room is provided for them to share new insights. Results from measurement experiments indicate more positive project experiences with projects that used the knowledge-sharing solution.     

论箱庭游戏疗法在儿童社会技能培养中的应用

儿童是祖国的未来,儿童时期是人生成长的初期阶段,是身体和心理发展的重要时期。儿童社会技能的发展水平,对儿童有着短期乃至长期的影响,关系到儿童是否能够进行正常的社会交往,是否能够拥有良好的交往关系,能否得到比较全面的发展。文中将箱庭游戏引入对儿童社会技能的培养中,旨在提高儿童社会交往和适应社会生活的能力。     

Early Behavioral Inhibition and Emotion Regulation: Pathways Toward Social Competence in Middle Childhood

This study examined emotion regulation (ER) as a mediator in the relation between early behavioral inhibition (BI) and later social competence (N = 257), and whether this mediation varied depending on BI levels. Maternal report and observational measures were used to assess BI (ages 2 and 3). Children's ER strategies (age 5) and social competence with an unfamiliar peer (age 7) were measured using observational measures. Results showed that BI predicted less engaged ER strategies during a disappointment task, and engaged ER predicted higher social competence. Engaged ER mediated the effect of BI on social competence, but only for highly inhibited children. Findings elucidate developmental trajectories of risk and resilience, and suggest targeting regulatory strategies in early prevention efforts with highly inhibited children.     

听力障碍幼儿情绪理解研究

通过自编的儿童情绪理解测验考察了听障幼儿外部情绪理解、内部情绪理解和反思情绪理解三个维度的发展状况.结果表明:(1)听障幼儿表情识别、情绪情景识别和提示物理解水平低于健昕幼儿,其外部情绪理解整体水平发展较低;(2)听障幼儿愿望理解和对情绪表达规则的理解能力不如健听幼儿,对信念的理解和健听幼儿没有差别,其对内部心理状态的理解水平低于健听幼儿;(3)听障幼儿对情绪调节和情绪原因的理解低于健听幼儿,对混合情绪和道德情绪的理解和健听幼儿不存在显著差异,其反思情绪的理解水平低于健听幼儿.     

Social and Emotional Competence in Children of Depressed Mothers

The relations between maternal unipolar major depression and children's self-concept, self-control, and peer relationships were studied in a middle-class, predominantly white sample of 96 families. Each family included a target child between the ages of 5 and 10. Depressed mothers varied on whether or not the child's father also had a psychiatric disorder. Well mothers all had spouses with no psychiatric disorders. Analyses controlled for marital status, age, and sex of child. Children completed measures of self-concept and peer relations skills; teachers completed measures of self-control and a rating of popularity with peers. Results supported the multiple risk factor model in that fathers' psychiatric status and parents' marital status explained much of the variability in children's social and emotional competence. Maternal depression alone, in the context of a well husband/father, was only related to children having been rated by their teachers as less popular. Results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms by which maternal depression may interact with paternal psychopathology and divorce in relation to children's social and emotional competence. The findings may further indicate that older children are more vulnerable to these multiple risk factors than younger children.     

Models of Emotion Skills and Social Competence in the Head Start Classroom

Research Findings: Fostering the social competence of at-risk preschoolers would be facilitated by knowing which of children's emotion skills are most salient to social outcomes. We examined the emotion skills and social competence of 44 children enrolled in a Head Start program. Emotion skills were examined in terms of children's emotional lability and emotion regulation, whereas social competence was measured in terms of three aspects of preschoolers' social relationships: social skills, student–teacher relationships, and peer likeability. Although emotion regulation emerged as an important predictor for social skills and positive relationships with teachers, emotional lability was a significant predictor of student–teacher conflict and peer likeability. In fact, emotional lability mediated the relation between student–teacher conflict and peer likeability. Practice or Policy: The findings are discussed in terms of the complex associations between children's emotion skills and early social relationships.     

Improving Academic Advising Through Student Seminars: A Case Study

Effective advising can be a challenge for most criminal justice and criminology programs due to the high enrollment and the variety of careers available in the field. One technique designed to address these challenges is the group advising method. The purpose of this study was to examine the details, processes, and execution of a particular group advising method, called student advising seminars, implemented over a two-year period in a criminal justice department at a four-year state-owned university. Preliminary data measuring student accountability and satisfaction are also examined. The findings indicate student advising seminars, as it is described in this case study, have a potential of providing effective and efficient advising.     

Theory of Mind Predicts Emotion Knowledge Development in Head Start Children

Research Findings: Emotion knowledge (EK) enables children to identify emotions in themselves and others, and its development facilitates emotion recognition in complex social situations. Sociocognitive processes, such as theory of mind (ToM), may contribute to developing EK by helping children realize the inherent variability associated with emotion expression across individuals and situations. The present study explored how ToM, particularly false belief understanding, in preschool predicts children's developing EK in kindergarten. Participants were 60 Head Start children ages 3 to 5 years. ToM and EK measures were obtained from standardized child tasks. ToM scores were positively related to performance on an EK task in kindergarten after we controlled for preschool levels of EK and verbal ability. Exploratory analyses provided preliminary evidence that ToM serves as an indirect effect between verbal ability and EK. Practice or Policy: Early intervention programs may benefit from including lessons on ToM to help promote socioemotional learning, specifically EK. This consideration may be most fruitful when the targeted population is at risk.     

Social Competence of Learning Disabled Children: Cognitive and Emotional Aspects

The aim of the study was to investigate the structure of social competence among learning disabled children, as reported by themselves and their teachers, and the cognitive and emotional aspects that mediate its level. The sample consisted of 40 learning disabled children and 37 matched nondisabled children. Within Harter's competence model and Schaefer's spherical model, the learning disabled group demonstrated lower levels of competence and adjustment and a less mature concept of competence than did their peers. The social competence of the learning disabled children was accounted for by emotional and physical aspects of competence, similar to that found in younger and in children with an intellectual disability, whereas the social competence of the nondisabled peers was accounted for by a combination of academic, cognitive and self‐esteem aspects. Teachers rated the social competence of both groups of children as mediated by introversion and general competence. However, teachers added physical competence to the explanation of the learning disabled group's social competence, whereas they added task orientation to the explanation for the nondisabled group. Intervention planning should be geared toward increasing the social competence of LD children, through alerting teachers to their less mature self‐competence concept, with its special emphasis on nonacademic aspects.     

0～3岁儿童社会情绪与社会行为发展的研究综述

0～3岁儿童的发展与关心近年来受到广大发展心理学家和学前教育家的格外重视。文章着重回顾了0～3岁婴幼儿在情绪沟通、移情能力、自我控制行为、亲社会行为等方面发展的研究成果,特别强调了早期社会情绪、社会行为对儿童未来发展的重要作用。     

Social Competence and Temperament in Children with Chronic Orthopaedic Disability

The aim of the study was to investigate social competence in children with orthopaedic disability and its concurrent relations to child’s temperament, health condition, and maternal warmth. Participants were 68 Turkish children (mean = 5.94 years) with chronic orthopaedic disability and their mothers coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. Mother ratings were used to measure social competence, temperament, general health condition, and parental warmth. The attending physician rated the severity of orthopaedic disability. Attentional focusing, emotional reactivity, and child’s sex significantly predicted social competence. Age at first operation was slightly negatively associated with reactivity. The findings revealed the importance of emotional and attentional regulation for social functioning in children with orthopaedic disability, and pointed to the susceptibility of reactivity to environmental conditions. The study suggested that social functioning of youth with orthopaedic disability might benefit from temperament-based intervention and prevention programmes.     

Time Spent Gaming and Social Competence in Children: Reciprocal Effects Across Childhood

Electronic games are popular and many children spend much time on this activity. Here we investigate whether the quantity of time children spend on gaming is related to their social development, making this the first study to examine this relationship in children. We examine prospective relations between time spent gaming and social competence in a community sample of Norwegian 6 year olds (n = 873) followed up at ages 8, 10, and 12, controlling for socioeconomic status, body mass index, and time spent gaming together with friends. Results revealed that greater social competence at both 8 and 10 years predicted less gaming 2 years later and that more age-10 gaming predicted less social competence at age 12 but only among girls.     

Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Maltreated Children: A Meta-Analysis

The many adverse effects of child maltreatment make the scientific investigation of this phenomenon a matter of vital importance. Although the relationship between maltreatment and problematic emotion reactivity and regulation has been studied, the strength and specificity of these associations are not yet clear. We examine the magnitude of the maltreatment—child-emotion reactivity/regulation link. Studies with substantiated maltreatment involving children aged up to 18 were included, along with a smaller number of longitudinal studies (58 papers reviewed, encompassing more than 11,900 children). In comparison to nonmaltreated children, maltreated children experience more negative emotions, behave in a manner indicative of more negative emotion, and display emotion dysregulation. We outline several theoretical implications of our results.     

不同亚型学习障碍儿童情绪理解特点研究

本研究以30名学习障碍儿童为对象,采用表情图片和情境故事法,探讨不同亚型学习障碍儿童情绪理解特点.研究发现:(1)不同亚型学习障碍儿童情绪状态理解存在显著差异,阅读障碍儿童情绪状态理解水平显著高于数学障碍儿童和复合型学习障碍儿童,数学障碍儿童和复合型学习障碍儿童之间不存在显著差异;(2)不同亚型学习障碍儿童情绪原因理解和情绪调控理解不存在显著差异.     

Nontraditional Students' Service Needs and Social Support Resources: A Pilot Study

In response to a mail survey, 53 nontraditional undergraduates provided information about their reasons for reentering college, the likelihood of using services for nontraditional students, and sources of social support. Participants reported career, self‐improvement, and family issues as primary reasons for reentry. They reported they would be likely or very likely to use campus services, especially career counseling. More than 60% reported strong social support from family and friends.