Linked lives: stability and change in maternal circumstances and trajectories of antisocial behavior in children

Drawing on the notion of linked lives, this study examined the effects of stability and change in maternal circumstance on developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior in children 4 to 7 years of age. Using data from a national sample of young mothers and growth curve analysis, the study demonstrated that early maternal circumstances influences early antisocial behavior, whereas stability and change in these circumstances both exacerbate and ameliorate behavior problems. Of particular note, meaningful escape from poverty attenuates antisocial behavior whereas persistence in poverty or long-term movement into poverty intensifies such problems. These findings highlight the importance of structural context for parenting practices and the need to consider child development in light of dynamic and changing life-course fortunes of parents.     

Measures of academic motivation: A conceptual review

This review examines the measurement of academic motivation in college students. It distinguishes pencil-and-paper group-administered instruments according to their conceptions of academic motivation: academic motivation taken as a single general motivation, as single specific motivations, or as a complex of motivations. It evaluates these classes of instruments in terms of the interpretability and the utility of the information each type of instrument is likely to provide.     

Savings test for associations between neutral stimuli

Three experiments showed a savings procedure to be an effective and sensitive alternative to sensory preconditioning procedures as a measure of associations among neutral stimuli. Experiment 1 showed that within-compound associations developed more rapidly in reinforced appetitive serial compound conditioning when nonreinforced preexposure to the serial compound was given than when separate element or no preexposure was given. Experiment 2 showed the savings effect to be highly stimulus specific. Experiment 3 examined the facilitation of serial compound conditioning after either simultaneous or serial nonreinforced preexposure to the elements of the compound. The results of that experiment were consistent with those of analogous sensory preconditioning experiments. When preexposure involved only the two elements of the subsequently reinforced compound, serial preexposure produced more savings than simultaneous preexposure. But when preexposure involved a three-stimulus procedure like that used by Rescorla (1980b), simultaneous preexposure resulted in more savings. Advantages of the savings procedure over sensory preconditioning as a measure of association among neutral stimuli are discussed.     

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.     

Problem Solving, Contention, and Struggle: How Siblings Resolve a Conflict of Interests

In a laboratory setting, 48 sibling dyads age 4 and 6 or 6 and 8 years negotiated the division of six toys. Findings revealed that, in general, children reached divisions while using a preponderance of constructive problem-solving strategies, rather than contentious tactics. The degree of conflict of interests and the quality of sibling relationships predicted the children's use of problem-solving and contentious negotiation strategies, and was related to the types of resolutions achieved. Dyads experiencing low conflict of interests resolved their differences quickly. High conflict of interests coupled with positive relationships and constructive negotiation resulted in longer negotiations and creative, agreeable resolutions. High conflict of interests coupled with more negative relationships and destructive negotiations resulted in children's failures to reach agreement. Developmental differences indicated that older siblings within the pairs took the lead in negotiation, and benefited slightly more from the divisions. Furthermore, children in older dyads were more sophisticated and other oriented in their negotiations.     

Computers on wheels: an alternative to 'each one has one'

Four fifth‐grade classrooms embarked on a modified ubiquitous computing initiative in the fall of 2003. Two 15‐computer wireless laptop carts were shared among the four classrooms in an effort to integrate technology across the curriculum and affect change in student learning and teacher pedagogy. This initiative—in contrast to other one‐to‐one programmemess and stationary labs—offers public schools alternatives to budget constraints and instructional‐space overhead. Results indicate positive teacher technology competence and confidence, as well as instructional strategies that were student‐centred made meaningful uses of technology. Teacher technological knowledge and efficacy, pedagogical knowledge, and a supportive school community seem to be strong indicators for impacting technology integration in this context.     

How Do Sibling Conflicts End?

The endings of sibling conflicts were investigated in 40 families at 2 time periods. Each family included 2 children, studied when they were 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 years of age, and 2 years later, at 4 1/2and 6 1/2 years. Four types of conflict endings were observed in sibling conflicts: Compromise, Reconciliation, Submission, and No Resolution. Results indicate that at both time periods conflicts typically ended with No Resolution, followed by Submission, Compromise, and finally, Reconciliation. Submissions decreased and No Resolutions increased over the two time periods; no changes were observed in either Compromise or Reconciliation. Parents' interventions led directly to a resolution of 16% of the children's disputes (Parent Ending). In those cases, there was a greater likelihood of conflicts ending in Compromise or Reconciliation than when parents did not intervene. Conflicts in which parents intervened but the children ultimately resolved the conflicts themselves (Child Ending with Intervention) occurred 42% of the time. Such conflicts ended more often with No Resolution and less often with children's Submissions to their siblings. The implications of these findings for the development of children's conflict resolution skills and the role of parent involvement are discussed.     

Pigeons’ memory for empty time intervals marked by visual or auditory stimuli

In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to discriminate the duration (2 or 8 sec) of an empty interval separated by two 1325-Hz tone markers by responding to red and green comparison stimuli. During delay testing, a choose-short bias occurred at 1 sec, but a robust choose-long bias occurred at 9 sec. Responding in the absence of tone markers indicated that the pigeons were attending to the markers and not simply timing the total trial duration. The birds were then trained to match short (2-sec) or long (8-sec) empty intervals marked by light to blue/yellow comparisons. For both visual and auditory markers, delay testing produced a choose-short bias at 1 sec and a choose-long bias at 9 sec. In Experiment 2, the pigeons were shifted from a fixed to variable intertrial intervals (ITI) within sessions. On trials with tone markers, the duration of both the empty interval and the preceding ITI affected choice responding. On trials with light markers, only the duration of the empty interval influenced choice responding. Subsequent delay testing in the context of variable ITIs replicated the memory biases previously obtained. In Experiment 3, performance was assessed at various delay intervals on trials in which either the first or the second marker was omitted. The data from these omission tests indicated that the first marker initiated timing but that the second marker sometimes initiated the timing of a new interval. Explanations of these effects in terms of the internal clock model of timing are discussed, and a simple quantitative model of the delay interval data is tested.