Rigidity in Gender‐Typed Behaviors in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Study of Ethnic Minority Children

A key prediction of cognitive theories of gender development concerns developmental trajectories in the relative strength or rigidity of gender typing. To examine these trajectories in early childhood, 229 children (African American, Mexican American, and Dominican American) were followed annually from age 3 to 5 years, and gender‐stereotypical appearance, dress‐up play, toy play, and sex segregation were examined. High gender‐typing was found across ethnic groups, and most behaviors increased in rigidity, especially from age 3 to 4 years. In addressing controversy surrounding the stability and structure of gender‐typing it was found that from year to year, most behaviors showed moderately stable individual differences. Behaviors were uncorrelated within age but showed more concordance in change across time, suggesting that aspects of gender‐typing are multidimensional, but still show coherence.     

Children's Social Self‐Concept and Internalizing Problems: The Influence of Peers and Teachers

This study aimed to understand how relationships with peers and teachers contribute to the development of internalizing problems via children's social self‐concept. The sample included 570 children aged 7 years 5 months (SD = 4.6 months). Peer nominations of peer rejection, child‐reported social self‐concept, and teacher‐reported internalizing problems were assessed longitudinally in the fall and spring of Grades 2 and 3. Teacher reports of support to the child were assessed in Grade 2. Results showed that peer rejection impeded children's social self‐concept, which in turn affected the development of internalizing problems. Partial support was found for individual (but not classroom‐level) teacher support to buffer the adverse effects of peer problems on children's self‐concept, thereby mitigating its indirect effects on internalizing problems.     

Young Children's Trust Beliefs in Peers: Relations to Social Competence and Interactive Behaviors in a Peer Group

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to explore the relations between children's trust beliefs and social competence as well as social preference. In addition, this study examined how children with different trust belief profiles may differ in their peer interactive behaviors. A total of 47 children ages 5 to 6 participated in this study. Data were collected via observation of play behaviors, a teacher-rated social competence scale, and a child interview. The results indicated that children's trust beliefs in friends’ promise-keeping behaviors were positively associated with intrapersonal and interpersonal domains of social competence. Children who had greater trust in non-friend classmates’ promise-keeping behaviors tended to be sociable in a group, polite, and more preferred, and they were less likely to be disliked by peers. Children with different trust profiles exhibited differential interactive behaviors with peers. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that parents and early childhood educators should pay more attention to the extent to which young children trust their close friends and familiar peers, especially in terms of keeping promises. Adults may model their efforts in keeping their promises made to children and enhance children's capacity to reciprocate trust in close relationships. Adults can help children differentiate their trust based on the intimacy of relationships.     

同伴配对对儿童性别角色行为的影响——对双性化教育途径的一种探讨

双性化人格在近年来的性别角色研究中被认为是一种理想的性别角色模式,它能使个体更好地适应变化中的环境要求,并发掘自身潜能.因此,从心理学、教育学等角度探讨双性化教育的多种途径是十分必要的,并且已经受到众多学者和教育专家的广泛关注.本研究将中班儿童分别与同性和异性同伴配对,考察儿童与性别角色行为相关的玩具偏好.结果发现:(1)异性同伴强化了儿童的反性别角色行为,弱化了儿童的性别角色行为.(2)相较于男孩,女孩的性别角色行为更具刻板性.因此,研究者认为利用不同性别类型的玩具及让儿童游戏时与异性同伴配对.可以成为培养儿童双性化人格的一种途径.     

The Structure of Peers: The Impact of Peer Networks on Academic Achievement

Research in Higher Education - Peer effects are an important contributing factor in the learning process. Most of the prior literature on peer effects focuses on the characteristics of peers rather...     

大班幼儿在区域活动中的同伴互动特点分析

本研究采用观察法,对23名大班幼儿在区域活动中的287起同伴互动事件进行了定量和定性分析.研究结果表明:同伴互动事件的发生概率、主题、互动方式以及互动过程中幼儿的情绪体验等,都由于区域不同或幼儿性别不同而有所差异.为了更好地利用活动区促进同伴间的良性互动,教师应合理设置区域空间,投放丰富的操作材料,并根据幼儿的个性特征和兴趣需要给予有针对性的指导.     

Gender‐Based Relationship Efficacy: Children's Self‐Perceptions in Intergroup Contexts

This research introduces a new construct, gender‐based relationship efficacy, which refers to beliefs about one's ability to relate to own‐ and other‐gender peers. Study 1 investigated 204 fourth graders (M age = 9.56) and confirmed that own‐gender and other‐gender relationship efficacy represent distinguishable aspects of preadolescents' social competency beliefs that are differentially related to outcomes with own‐ and other‐gender peers, including outcome expectancies and friendships with own‐ and other‐gender peers. Study 2 provided further evidence of the distinctiveness of relationship efficacy for own‐ and other‐gender peers among 403 seventh (M age = 12.48) and 453 eighth (M age = 13.50) graders and found gender and age differences. Developmental changes and implications for research on intergroup relationships are discussed.     

Gender Differences in Child Aggression: Relations With Gender‐Differentiated Parenting and Parents’ Gender‐Role Stereotypes

This longitudinal study examines the association between child gender and child aggression via parents’ physical control, moderated by parents’ gender‐role stereotypes in a sample of 299 two‐parent families with a 3‐year‐old child in the Netherlands. Fathers with strong stereotypical gender‐role attitudes and mothers were observed to use more physical control strategies with boys than with girls, whereas fathers with strong counterstereotypical attitudes toward gender roles used more physical control with girls than with boys. Moreover, when fathers had strong attitudes toward gender roles (stereotypical or counterstereotypical), their differential treatment of boys and girls completely accounted for the gender differences in children's aggressive behavior a year later. Mothers’ gender‐differentiated parenting practices were unrelated to gender differences in child aggression.     

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.     

Income and Social Rank Influence UK Children's Behavioral Problems: A Longitudinal Analysis

Children living in low‐income households face elevated risks of behavioral problems, but the impact of absolute and relative income to this risk remains unexplored. Using the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study data, longitudinal associations between Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores and absolute household income, distance from the regional median and mean income, and regional income rank were examined in 3‐ to 12‐year‐olds (n = 16,532). Higher absolute household incomes were associated with lower behavioral problems, while higher income rank was associated with lower behavioral problems only at the highest absolute incomes. Higher absolute household incomes were associated with lower behavioral problems among children in working households, indicating compounding effects of income and socioeconomic advantages. Both absolute and relative incomes therefore appear to influence behavioral problems.     

国学对少年儿童教育影响的调查分析报告

本文以调查问卷的形式,对南京三所小学参加暑期国学启蒙班的学生家长进行了一次调查。调查结果显示,当今诸多因素限制了少年儿童对国学的学习,阻碍了孩子们对国学的接触与了解。因此需协调全社会的力量,共同为少年儿童营造一个良好的学习国学的氛围,使国学更好地在少年儿童当中普及。     

A Longitudinal Study of School Peer Networks and Adjustment to Middle School

A cohort of children was followed across the first 2 years of their middle school experience. Utilising a multi‐method, longitudinal research design, children's school peer networks were described as they moved from sixth to seventh grades. Next, predictive relations between these school peer network variables in sixth grade and seventh grade adjustment was determined. Results indicated that social groupings became more gender integrated from sixth to seventh grades. Further, adjustment can be explained in terms of children adjusting to gender roles.     

大班幼儿角色游戏中同伴互动行为分析及教育对策

角色游戏是幼儿的主要游戏方式,角色游戏中的同伴互动行为质量会影响影响幼儿社会性的发展。本研究对大班幼儿角色游戏中的同伴互动行为进行观察,分析其特点,并提出提升幼儿在角色游戏中进行同伴互动的技巧,以期提高幼儿同伴交往水平。     

Children's Moral Reasoning about Family and Peer Violence: The Role of Provocation and Retribution

Several theories assume that the approval of violence is related to deficits in moral reasoning. However, this assumption has rarely been empirically tested. This inquiry examined violent and nonviolent children's moral reasoning about violence in family and peer situations. 108 subjects (54 violent and 54 nonviolent, aged 8–1, 10–2, 12–2) selected from 2 inner city schools were asked to evaluate unprovoked and provoked violent situations. All the children condemned unprovoked violence using moral reasoning. With provoked situations, the violent group focused more on the immorality of the provocation and perceived "hitting back" as a form of reciprocal justice. The nonviolent group perceived "hitting" worse than the psychological harm of the provocation and condemned the violence. The results suggest that both the approval and disapproval of violence were justified by moral reasoning. It was proposed that the violent children's greater focus on psychological provocations may be due to experiences and self-perceptions of victimization.     

The Influence of Children's Literature on Gender Role Perceptions: A Reexamination

This project reexamined young children's gender attitudes regarding occupational roles. The results of this study suggested that young children's atitudes, while still generally stereotypic, were more flexible regarding occupational roles. The reading of carefully selected books and book related activities positively influenced gender attitudes.     

Intergroup Contact Attitudes Across Peer Networks in School: Selection,Influence, and Implications for Cross-Group Friendships

This study offers new insights into the power of peer networks for shaping intergroup relations in a diverse school. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of sixth–eighth graders (N = 524; M_ageT1 = 11.87; 48% girls; 9% Asian American/Pacific Islander, 28% African American, 13% Latino, 1% Native American, 31% White, 5% Other, and 11% Multiracial) in the Midwestern United States. Students with more positive intergroup contact attitudes (ICA) were most likely to be friends with similarly minded students. Students with more positive ICA were less likely to select friends of the same race/ethnicity than those with less positive ICA. Finally, students’ ICA became more similar to their friends’ ICA over time. Results implicate school-level norms and contagion in students’ ICA.     

Peer Influence on Ethnic‐Racial Identity Development: A Multi‐Site Investigation

The peer context features prominently in theory, and increasingly in empirical research, about ethnic‐racial identity (ERI) development, but no studies have assessed peer influence on ERI using methods designed to properly assess peer influence. We examined peer influence on ERI centrality, private, and public regard using longitudinal social network analysis. Data were drawn from two sites: a predominantly Latina/o Southwestern (SW) school (N = 1034; Mage = 12.10) and a diverse Midwestern (MW) school (N = 513; Mage = 11.99). Findings showed that peers influenced each other's public regard over time at both sites. However, peer influence on centrality was evident in the SW site, whereas peer influence on private regard was evident in the MW site. Importantly, peer influence was evident after controlling for selection effects. Our integration of developmental, contextual, and social network perspectives offers a fruitful approach to explicate how ERI content may shift in early adolescence as a function of peer influence.     

Adolescents' Selective Visual Attention for High‐Status Peers: The Role of Perceiver Status and Gender

Previous research has shown that adolescents' attention for a peer is determined by the peer's status. This study examined how it is also determined by the status of the perceiving adolescent, and the gender of both parties involved (perceiver and perceived). Participants were 122 early adolescents (M age = 11.0 years) who completed sociometric measures and eye‐tracking recordings of visual fixations at pictures of high‐status (popular) and low‐status (unpopular) classmates. Automatic attention (first‐gaze preference) and controlled attention (total gaze time) were measured. Target popularity was associated with both measures of attention. These associations were further moderated by perceiver popularity and perceiver and target gender. Popular adolescents attracted attention especially from other popular adolescents. Popular boys attracted attention especially from girls.     

学前儿童戏剧教育活动中教师角色研究

关于学前儿童戏剧教育活动的定义有很多种,其中不乏许多误解,例如,把学前儿童戏剧教育活动片面地理解为角色扮演、表演游戏等。研究者通过实际观察,发现教师在学前儿童戏剧教育活动中扮演"无微不至"的导演、"不懂孩子"的编剧、"颠三倒四"的演员等这样一些错位角色,根据这些错位角色分析总结出在学前儿童戏剧教育活动中教师应该扮演掌控全局的"导演"、接地气的"编剧"、多角色的"演员"这些角色。为了使这些错位表现减少、应然表现增多,研究者总结出在学前儿童戏剧教育活动中教师应做一位明智的引导者、勇敢的探险者、谦虚的学习者,不断完善自己,明确自己的角色定位,尊重儿童的主体地位,让幼儿在学前教育戏剧教育活动中真正做到率真天性的解放、心灵智慧的启迪,真正体会到自由和快乐。     

Role of Cognitively Stimulating Home Environment in Children's Academic Intrinsic Motivation: A Longitudinal Study

The short- and long-term, and direct and indirect, relations between cognitively stimulating home environment and academic intrinsic motivation were investigated in a longitudinal study from childhood through early adolescence. Structural equations modeling was used to test the hypothesis that home environment positively predicts academic intrinsic motivation over this period. It was also hypothesized that home environmental processes would positively predict motivation controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). When children were age 8, home environment (comprising both direct observations and parent report) and SES were measured. Academic intrinsic motivation was assessed at ages 9, 10, and 13. Results supported the hypotheses. Home environment had statistically positive and significant, direct and indirect paths to academic intrinsic motivation from childhood through early adolescence, indicating both short- and long-term effects across these ages. Moreover, home environment was significant above and beyond SES. The findings revealed that children whose homes had a greater emphasis on learning opportunities and activities were more academically intrinsically motivated.