The Family Context of Gender Intensification in Early Adolescence

This longitudinal study of 144 young adolescents (ages 9–11 at phase 1) examined the hypothesis that boys and girls would experience increased "gender-differential socialization" across a 1-year period in early adolescence, and that such patterns would be stronger in families in which ( a ) parents maintained a traditional division of labor, and ( b ) there was a younger sibling of the opposite gender. Longitudinal analyses of 3 aspects of family socialization (adolescents' participation in "feminine" and "masculine" household chores; adolescents' involvement in dyadic activities with mothers and fathers; parental monitoring) revealed that gender intensification was apparent for some aspects of family socialization but not others. In addition, when gender intensification was apparent, it generally emerged in some family contexts but not in others. Only dyadic parent-adolescent involvement was characterized by an overall pattern of gender intensification in which girls became increasingly involved with their mothers and boys with their fathers; this pattern was exacerbated in contexts where adolescents had a younger, opposite-sex sibling.     

Frontal Activation Asymmetry and Social Competence at Four Years of Age

The pattern of frontal activation as measured by the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) may be a marker for individual differences in infant and adult disposition to respond with either positive or negative affect. We studied 48 4-year-old children who were first observed in same-sex quartets during free-play sessions, while making speeches, and during a ticket-sorting task. Social and interactive behaviors were coded from these sessions. Each child was subsequently seen 2 weeks later when EEG was recorded while the child attended to a visual stimulus. The pattern of EEG activation computed from the session was significantly related to the child's behavior in the quartet session. Children who displayed social competence (high degree of social initiations and positive affect) exhibited greater relative left frontal activation, while children who displayed social withdrawal (isolated, onlooking, and unoccupied behavior) during the play session exhibited greater relative right frontal activation. Differences among children in frontal asymmetry were a function of power in the left frontal region. These EEG/behavior findings suggest that resting frontal asymmetry may be a marker for certain temperamental dispositions.     

Using an expectancy-value approach to examine teachers’ motivational strategies

This study explored verbal motivational strategies in exemplary teachers’ classrooms. A framework derived from expectancy-value theory, which addresses student motivation for academic tasks, was applied. Audiotaped math and literacy lessons of two exemplary second-grade teachers showed a high number of comments related to expectancies and relatively fewer related to valuing tasks. In addition, teachers made more motivational statements when in the process of instruction than when introducing or concluding instructional episodes. Interviews revealed that some teacher beliefs, such as the importance of rationales or ensuring student success, were related to classroom strategies. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.     

Development of temporal-reconstructive abilities

In a study of the ability to reconstruct the times of past events, 86 children from 4 to 13 years recalled the times of 2 in-class demonstrations that had occurred 3 months earlier and judged the times of hypothetical events. Many of the abilities needed to reconstruct the times of events were present by 6 years, including the capacity to interpret many temporally relevant cues, but there were substantial changes well into middle childhood in the availability of temporally useful episodic information. Children were poor at remembering the events' proximity or order with respect to a major holiday, but the order of the 2 target events was well recalled by 6 years.     

Inhibitory effects of omission training

In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to peck red or blue keys for food reinforcement at variable intervals, while food was contingent on withholding key pecks in the presence of a vertical line (omission training). When the line was briefly superimposed on red or blue in a compound test, responding was reduced. When the orientation of the line was varied during extinction, generalization gradients were variable but often had most responding at or near vertical. In Experiment 2, pigeons were trained in a discrete trials procedure that made food contingent upon pecking in the presence of triangle, and upon the absence of pecking in the presence of red (omission training). Food was never given on green-key trials (extinction). When red or green backgrounds were presented with the triangle in a compound test, responding was reduced similarly in the presence of both key colors. Subsequent resistance to auto-shaping was also similar for red and green. These data, taken together with reports in the literature, suggest that the inhibitory effects of omission training are quite similar to those of extinction. Thus, the crucial condition for obtaining inhibitory effects is not a negative stimulus-reinforcer correlation, as in extinction, but simply the establishment of low rates of responding to the inhibitory stimulus.     

Answering the New SAT Reading Comprehension Questions Without the Passages

It has been reasonably well established that test takers can, to varying degrees, answer some reading comprehension questions without reading the passages on which the questions are based, even for carefully constructed measures like the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The aim of this study was to determine what test-taking strategies examinees use, and which are related to test performance, when reading passages are not available. The research focused on reading comprehension questions similar to those that will be used in the revised SAT, to be introduced in 1994. The most often cited strategies involved choosing answers on the basis of consistency with other questions and reconstructing the main theme of a missing passage from all of the questions and answers in a set. These strategies were more likely to result in successful performance on individual test items than were any of many other possible (and less constructrelevant) strategies.     

Japanese and United States Preschool Children's Responses to Conflict and Distress

Japanese and U.S. preschool children's responses to hypothetical interpersonal dilemmas were examined as a function of culture, gender, and maternal child-rearing values. U.S. children showed more anger, more aggressive behavior and language, and underregulation of emotion than Japanese children, across different contexts of assessment. Children from the 2 cultures appeared more similar on prosocial and avoidant patterns, though in some contexts U.S. children also showed more prosocial themes. Girls from both cultures expressed more prosocial themes and sometimes more anger than boys. Maternal encouragement of children's emotional expressivity was correlated with anger and aggression in children. It was more characteristic of U.S. than Japanese mothers, while emphasis on psychological discipline (reasoning; guilt and anxiety induction) was more characteristic of Japanese than U.S. mothers. The relevance of a conceptual framework that focuses on differences in Eastern and Western cultures in self-construals regarding independence and interdependence is considered.     

Randomized trial of a statewide home visiting program: impact in preventing child abuse and neglect

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of home visiting in preventing child abuse and neglect in the first 3 years of life in families identified as at-risk of child abuse through population-based screening at the child's birth. METHODS: This experimental study focused on Hawaii Healthy Start Program (HSP) sites operated by three community-based agencies. From 11/94 to 12/95, 643 families were enrolled and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Child abuse and neglect were measured by observed and self-reported parenting behaviors, all hospitalizations for trauma and for conditions where hospitalization might have been avoided with adequate preventive care, maternal relinquishment of her role as primary caregiver, and substantiated CPS reports. Data were collected through annual maternal interviews (88% follow-up each year of all families with baseline interviews); observation of the home environment; and review of CPS, HSP, and pediatric medical records. RESULTS: HSP records rarely noted home visitor concern about possible abuse. The HSP and control groups were similar on most measures of maltreatment. HSP group mothers were less likely to use common corporal/verbal punishment (AOR=.59, p=.01) but this was attributable to one agency's reduction in threatening to spank the child. HSP group mothers reported less neglectful behavior (AOR=.72, .02), related to a trend toward decreased maternal preoccupation with problems and to improved access to medical care for intervention families at one agency. CONCLUSIONS: The program did not prevent child abuse or promote use of nonviolent discipline; it had a modest impact in preventing neglect. Possible targets for improved effectiveness include the program's implementation system and model.     

Parent involvement and reading: Using curriculum‐based measurement to assess the effects of paired reading

This study examined the effectiveness of a paired reading intervention using curriculum‐based measurement (CBM) probes to document reading progress for one fourth‐ and two third‐grade students. These students were considered below‐average readers. Parents and children used the paired reading method in their homes for 10 minutes, four times a week. Children and parents were also provided with reading material at their instructional level. Results showed that the children's reading accuracy and rates increased from baseline to follow‐up on CBM measures and on pre/posttesting. In addition, students and parents gave favorable treatment acceptability ratings for paired reading. Implications for future research are outlined. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 613–626, 2003.