The relationship of day care quality to children's free-play behavior and social problem-solving skills

The relationship of day care quality to the activities of 4-year-old children during free play and their knowledge of social problem solving was investigated. The subjects were 55 children attending 15 day care centers and nursery school. Indicators of day care quality included quality of interaction with teachers, arrangement of the physical space, spaciousness of the environment, appropriateness and variety of the materials provided for play, quality of the outdoor area, group size, and child-teacher ratio. Relationships were found between these dimensions and children's absorption in solitary play and knowledge of social problem solving. Most of these relationships held up after the effects of social class were statistically removed.     

儿童消费者行为与零售商关系的思考

现在,几乎每种消费品行业都在一定程度上开始了针对儿童的营销。本文从零售商的角度研究分析了儿童消费者行为与其之间的关系,旨在帮助零售商认识到儿童消费行为产生过程中的影响因素,从而让零售商了解和重视儿童消费者。这样做的目的是使更多的孩子满意,其结果是企业会获得更多的利润。     

Dependency on elementary school caregivers: The role of parental intrusiveness and children's separation anxiety

A theoretical model of children's dependency on teachers and other caregivers in elementary school was tested and supported in this study. Based on attachment theory and social‐cognitive theory, parental intrusiveness and children's separation anxiety were hypothesized to heighten dependent behaviors with school caregivers. Families of children in Grades K–5 participated. Parent‐ and child‐report measures with good psychometric properties were employed. Parental intrusiveness and children's separation anxiety were associated with clingy, dependent relationships with school caregivers in cross‐informant correlational analyses. Intrusiveness and separation anxiety jointly accounted for 18%–29% of the variance in dependency scores. Results are consistent with attachment models of continuity between parent–child relationships and relations with other caregivers. Practice recommendations for teachers and school providers are given. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 823–837, 2007.     

The relationship between social behavior and self-concept in school settings

The relationship between social behavior, as measured by the School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS), and self-concept, as measured by the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC), was studied. Subjects included 41 public school students in Grades 5 and 6. These subjects were rated on the SSBS by their classroom teachers and also completed the SPPC as a self-report measure. A number of significant positive relationships were found between the Social Competence scores of the SSBS and the SPPC self-concept scores. Relationships between the Problem Behavior scores of the SSBS and the SPPC scores were extremely weak, and none of the obtained coefficients was statistically significant. The pattern of associations identified through this investigation provides support for the criterion-related validity of both the SSBS and SPPC, and raises some interesting questions regarding the relationship between social behavior and self-concept in children.     

The relationship between attributes of a children's radio program and its appeal to listeners

An approach was developed to investigate the link between attributes of a children's radio program and children's judgments of appeal. Program tapes were divided into 28 segments and were rated for the presence of 30 attributes. Through multidimensional scaling analysis, attributes were organized into six clusters of Superattributes on the basis of their co-occurrence across the 28 segments. Superattributes were labeled and assigned scores that reflected the degree to which each was present in the 28 segments. A sample of 42 children 8–12 years old listened to the test tapes and provided a written judgment of their interest in the program at each segment. Results revealed that the Superattributes Instruction, Intro Talk, and Jokes were negatively associated with children's interest, while Popular Music was positively correlated with interest. In planning programs and understanding the effects of radio on children, designers and researchers should pay special attention to those formats in radio programming that are familiar to children, especially popular music and instructional material.     

The nature and treatment of childhood anxiety

Several issues pertinent to childhood anxiety and related disorders are reviewed. These include the reliability and validity of existing classification systems, the diversity and shortcomings of behavioral assessment techniques, and the nature and efficacy of intervention strategies with this population. Particular attention is paid to the need to interface taxonomic, assessment, and treatment methods. A functional model of assessing and treating children and adolescents with school refusal behavior is presented as a preliminary example. Recommendations for future research by educators and psychologists are also discussed.     

人与自然和谐关系的重要性以及构建途径

环境问题日益严重,正确看待以及正确构建人与自然的关系也变得更加重要。对于人与自然的关系要坚持以辩证唯物主义为世界观和方法论,从意识层面深刻认识到两者之间的和谐关系的重要性,从实践层面出发在实际中切实创造与维护人与自然的友好关系。     

Middle school children's strategic behavior: Classification and relation to academic achievement and mathematical problem solving

Theories of problem solving (e.g., Verschaffelet al., 2000) hold strategic behavior centralto processing mathematical word problems. Thepresent study explores 80 sixth- andseventh-grade students' self-reported use of 14categories of strategies (Zimmerman &Martinez-Pons, 1986) and the relationship ofstrategy use to academic achievement,problem-solving behaviors, and problem-solvingsuccess. High and low achievement groupsdiffered in the number of different strategiesand categories of strategies reported but notin overall number of strategies, confidence inusing strategies, or frequency of strategy use.Students whose behaviors evidenced elaborationof the word problem's text reported moreself-evaluation; organizing and transforming;and goal setting and monitoring behavior.Implications for instructional practices thatsupport active stances toward problem solvingare discussed.     

Goodness of fit in the home: its relationship to school behavior and achievement in children with learning disabilities

This study examined whether a "goodness of fit" theoretical model, applied to families with and without children with learning disabilities, would be valuable in understanding the children's performance in school. A home interview was conducted with 63 families with a child with learning disabilities and 53 families with a comparable child without learning disabilities. The mothers were asked to rate how their own child fit into the family's expectations for children. It was found that, for both groups of families, children who were rated as a "poor fit" in the home demonstrated less positive behavior in the classroom and poorer achievement over the elementary school years. There was some evidence that poor fit in the home was even more negatively related to outcomes for children with learning disabilities. Discussion is centered on the importance of this theoretical model for understanding the importance of the home on successful school function.     

Young children's beliefs about the relationship between gender and aggressive behavior

Young children's beliefs about the relationship between gender and aggression were examined across 3 studies (N=121). In Study 1, preschoolers (ages 3 to 5) described relational aggression as the most common form of aggression among girls and physical aggression as the most common form among boys. In Study 2, preschoolers and a comparison group of 7- to 8-year-olds were likely to infer that relationally aggressive characters are female and physically aggressive characters are male. Study 3 revealed that preschoolers show systematic memory distortions when recalling stories that conflict with these gender schemas. These findings suggest that even before children reach school age, they have organized patterns of beliefs about gender that affect the way they process social information.     

The nature of children's talk during storybook partnerships

Paul, a first-grader reading a book about fish, pronounced the wordone asfish. Rachel, his partner, shook her head from side to side and drew the number 1 with her fingertip on the desk. Then she said, First number. Paul knew it wasone and corrected himself. Later, when he was stuck on the word again, Rachel prompted, First number. Paul corrected himself and mastered the wordone.Cathleen Soundy is Assistant Professor, Early Childhood/Elementary Education, Temple University, College of Education, Philadelphia, PA.     

The relationship between behavior at school entry and services received in third grade

Recent studies report the cumulative prevalence of behavioral disorders among school‐age children to be second only to anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, by the time behavior has been identified as needing special education services, patterns of disruptive and externalizing behavior have often become unremitting. If at‐risk behavior can be reliably identified at school entry, there is potential to intervene early to reduce severity and chronicity of behavior. Thus, with the aid of a nationally representative sample (n = 17,490), this study aimed to ascertain if teacher‐observed disruptive behavior in kindergarten predicted children’s categorical identification for special education and receipt of behavior goals in their individualized education plans in third grade. Results indicated externalizing behaviors and approaches to learning at school entry, predicted identification with emotional disturbance, and other health impairment due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in third grade. In addition, externalizing behaviors at school entry increased the likelihood of a child receiving an individualized education plan with an appropriate behavior goal. Self‐control was not a significant predictor of any outcome. Finally, the covariates of sex, reading achievement, and race at school entry were significantly associated with a child’s need for behavior‐related services. Implications for early intervention are discussed.