The Relations of Regulation and Negative Emotionality to Indonesian Children''s Social Functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of individual differences in regulation and negative emotionality to 127 third-grade Indonesian children's social skills/low externalizing problem behavior, sociometric status, and shyness. Parents and multiple teachers provided information on children's regulation, negative emotionality, and social functioning; peer sociometric information on liking and social behavior was obtained; and children reported on their self-regulation. In general, children's low socially appropriate behavior/ high problem behavior and rejected peer status were related to low dispositional regulation and high negative emotionality (intense emotions and anger), and regulation and negative emotionality (especially teacher rated) sometimes accounted for unique (additive) variance in children's social functioning. Adult-reported shyness was related to low peer nominations of disliked/fights (although shy children were not especially liked), low adult-reported regulation, and (to a lesser degree) low teacher-rated negative emotionality. Findings are compared with work on regulation, negative emotionality, social competence, and shyness in other countries.     

Resilient Adaptation Among At‐Risk Children: Harnessing Science Toward Maximizing Salutary Environments

Compiled in this Special Section are recommendations from multiple experts on how to maximize resilience among children at risk for maladjustment. Contributors delineated processes with relatively strong effects and modifiable by behavioral interventions. Commonly highlighted was fostering the well‐being of caregivers via regular support, reduction of maltreatment while promoting positive parenting, and strengthening emotional self‐regulation of caregivers and children. In future work, there must be more attention to developing and testing interventions within real‐world settings (not just in laboratories) and to ensuring feasibility in procedures, costs, and assessments involved. Such movement will require shifts in funding priorities—currently focused largely on biological processes—toward maximizing the benefits from large‐scale, empirically supported intervention programs for today's at‐risk youth and families.     

The relations of effortful control and impulsivity to children's resiliency and adjustment

The unique relations of effortful control and impulsivity to resiliency and adjustment were examined when children were 4.5 to 8 years old, and 2 years later. Parents and teachers reported on all constructs and children's attentional persistence was observed. In concurrent structural equation models, effortful control and impulsivity uniquely and directly predicted resiliency and externalizing problems and indirectly predicted internalizing problems (through resiliency). Teacher-reported anger moderated the relations of effortful control and impulsivity to externalizing problems. In the longitudinal model, all relations held at T2 except for the path from impulsivity to externalizing problems. Evidence of bidirectional effects also was obtained. The results indicate that effortful control and impulsivity are distinct constructs with some unique prediction of resiliency and adjustment.     

Contemporaneous and Longitudinal Prediction of Children's Social Functioning from Regulation and Emotionality

Relations of regulation and emotionality to social functioning were examined for 77 children followed from early to middle school age. Parents and teachers reported on children's social behavior, emotionality, and regulation, and children engaged in analogue peer conflict situations (i.e., with puppets). High-quality social functioning was predicted by high regulation and low levels of nonconstructive coping, nevatige emotionality, and general emotional intensity. Prediction often was obtained across reporters and time, although prediction was strongest within context (home versus school). Moreover, measures of regulation and emotionality frequently contributed unque variance to the prediction of social functioning. Contemporaneous correlations at age 8–10 were similar to those obtained at age 6–8, and prediction of later social functioning from emotionality and regulation at age 4–6 was similar at ages 6–8 and 8–10.     

Consistency and development of prosocial dispositions: a longitudinal study

The issue of whether there is consistency in prosocial dispositions was examined with a longitudinal data set extending from ages 4 to 5 years into early adulthood (N = 32). Spontaneous prosocial behaviors observed in the preschool classroom predicted actual prosocial behavior, other- and self-reported prosocial behavior, self-reported sympathy, and perspective taking in childhood to early adulthood. Prosocial behaviors that were not expected to reflect an other-orientation (i.e., low cost helping and compliant prosocial behavior) generally did not predict later prosocial behavior or sympathy. Sympathy appeared to partially mediate the relation of early spontaneous sharing to later prosocial dispositions. The results support the view that there are stable individual differences in prosocial responding that have their origins in early childhood.     

Emotion-related regulation: sharpening the definition

Cole, Martin, and Dennis (this issue) considered many important conceptual and methodological issues in their discussion of emotion regulation. Although it may be necessary to develop an integrated definition of the construct of emotion regulation, the definition provided in the Cole et al. article is too encompassing. It is important to differentiate emotion regulation from the effects of emotions on others and to differentiate among (a) regulation that stems from individuals external to the child versus behavior that is accomplished by the child, (b) behavior that is goal oriented versus unintentional, and (c) regulation that is voluntary versus behavior that is less voluntarily controlled. An alternate definition of emotion-related self-regulation is provided.     

Professionals' attributions of censure in father-daughter incest

Despite the recent increase in interest in the area of child sexual abuse, few studies have explored the attitudes of professionals involved in working with children. The present study investigates variables relating to the attribution of censure by two professional groups (teachers and social workers), to a victim of father-daughter incest, the father, and nonparticipating mother. Subjects were given one of four brief histories of a 14-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her father. Cases varied according to whether the child had/had not resisted her father's advances and whether she had/had not had other sexual experiences. Subjects then completed a questionnaire and indicated the extent to which they attributed censure to the child, her mother, and father, and the extent to which they believed she would be affected by her experiences. Results showed that responses were influenced by the level of resistance, other sexual experiences, and respondents' sex and occupation.     

Policies,principals and parents: multilevel challenges and supports in teaching sexuality education

A teacher's capacity to provide sexuality education may be hampered or enhanced by a number of factors. A social–ecological framework can be used to understand these influences, and the present study assesses interpersonal, organisational/institutional and community/policy level influences on teaching sexuality education. Seven focus groups were conducted in 2009 with 41 sexuality education teachers in Minnesota; discussion focused on challenges and the supports teachers experienced. At the interpersonal level, teachers reported both positive and negative interactions with parents, regarding parents as highly influential on school administrators and policy. Teachers reported many organisational level challenges, including their administrators, district policy, and structural factors such as time, financial resources, and diversity in the student body. At the community level, participants overwhelmingly felt that policy changes could be very beneficial to sexuality education in Minnesota, and believed that this support could come from all levels. Findings suggest numerous intervention points to reduce challenges and strengthen supports for teachers, and indicate that a multi-level approach is needed to increase teachers' ability to deliver sexuality education that meets their students' needs and is less onerous for the educator.     

Perceived instructor argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness and student outcomes

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instructor argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness, and student affective learning and satisfaction. Participants were 169 undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of communication courses at a small Midwestern university. Results indicate that perceived instructor argumentativeness is positively correlated with student affect toward the course, student affect toward the instructor, and student satisfaction whereas perceived instructor verbal aggressiveness is negatively correlated with student affect toward the course, student affect toward the instructor, and student satisfaction. Future researchers may examine the reasons behind instructor argumentative and verbally aggressive behaviors as well as the composition of the various messages used to exemplify these behaviors.