I’m respectful. Why don’t they like me? Evaluator and gender effects of showing respect and children’s social competence

Despite extensive research on the importance of conceptualizing respect, little is known about how respect recipients and peer onlookers evaluate showing respect. Few studies have examined how such evaluations affect children's peer relations across four levels of social complexity (individual, interactions, relationships, and group), and few have assessed how gender influences the evaluations of showing respect to peers on peer social competence. This study used multi‐group structural equation modeling (MSEM) to examine how (a) cross‐evaluators’ views on showing respect mediated the relation between multiple measures of social complexity and children's social competence and (b) whether gender moderated the above relations. Two hundred and sixteen participants were chosen from third to sixth graders (111 girls; M_age =10.30). They completed self‐reports of social competence and showing respect, and peer reports of classmates’ showing respect, overt aggression, physical victimization, mutual friends, and social competence. Self‐evaluations of showing respect were negatively related to group‐level social competence. Peer evaluations of showing respect mediated the association between peer relations (specifically, number of mutual friends and overt aggression) and individual‐level and group‐level social competence. Gender moderated three paths in the model, namely links between overt aggression and (a) peer evaluations for showing respect; (b) group‐level social competence; and (c) individual‐level social competence. Negative associations were stronger for girls than for boys. The research findings suggest that gender norms shape the complex relations between children's showing respect and social competence, and an understanding of these relations must take into account differences in evaluations made by children and their peers.     

Children's Observed Interactions With Best Friends: Associations With Friendship Jealousy and Satisfaction

This study examined the role of friendship jealousy and satisfaction in nine‐year‐old children's observed interactions with their best friends. One hundred five dyads (51 female, 54 male) participated in a 30‐min closed‐field observational setting and reported their jealousy and satisfaction within the friendship. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model was used to estimate the effects of friendship jealousy and satisfaction on children's own and their friends' behavior. Friends were highly similar in observed behavior and friendship characteristics. Many observed dyadic behaviors were associated with overall levels of jealousy within the friendship, but differences in friendship satisfaction were only predictive of conflict resolution in boys. Children's reports of their friendship jealousy were strongly related to their own behavior in the dyad and the behavior of their best friends. Gender differences were discussed. The results further illustrate the importance of a dyadic perspective on friendship interaction.     

Parents' beliefs about children's emotions,children's emotion understanding,and classroom adjustment in middle childhood

To explore how parental socialization of emotion may influence children's emotion understanding, which then guides children's interpretations of emotion‐related situations across contexts, we examined the pathways between socialization of emotion and children's adjustment in the classroom, with children's emotion understanding as an intervening variable. Specifically, children's emotion understanding was examined as a mediator of associations between mothers' beliefs about the value and danger of children's emotions and children's adjustment in the classroom within an SEM framework. Classroom adjustment was estimated as a latent variable and included social, emotional, and behavioral indices. Covariates included maternal education, and child gender and ethnicity. Participants were a diverse group of 201 third‐graders (116 African American, 81 European American, 4 Biracial; 48.8% female), their mothers, and teachers. Results revealed that emotion‐related beliefs (value and danger) had no direct influence on classroom adjustment. However, children whose mothers endorsed the belief that emotions are dangerous demonstrated less emotion understanding and were less well‐adjusted in the classroom. Mothers' belief that emotions are valuable was not independently associated with emotion understanding. Findings point to the important role of emotion understanding in children's development across contexts (family, classroom) and developmental domains (social, emotional, behavioral) during the middle childhood years.     

Links between friends’ behaviors and the emergence of leadership in childhood: A genetically informed study of twins

Using a genetically informed design, this study examined whether children's leadership behavior varied as a function of their reciprocal friends’ behavioral characteristics. Specifically, we tested (a) whether friends’ use of a dual strategy (specifically, indirect aggression with prosocial behavior) was associated with children's leadership behavior and (b) whether, in line with a gene‐environment interaction (GxE), the predictive association between friends’ behaviors and children's leadership behavior varied depending on the child's genetic likelihood for leadership. The sample comprised 239 Monozygotic and same‐sex Dizygotic twin pairs (50% boys) assessed in grade 4 (mean age = 10.4 years, SD = 0.26). Reciprocal friendship and children's and their friends’ prosocial, indirectly aggressive, and physically aggressive behaviors were measured via peer nominations. Children's and friends’ leadership was measured through teacher ratings. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that children's genetic likelihood for leadership was positively associated with their leadership behavior. Moreover, the higher their genetic likelihood for leadership, the more children displayed increased leadership behavior when friends showed a combination of indirect aggression and prosocial behavior (GxE). These results underline the role of friends’ behaviors in explaining children's leadership. Socializing with bistrategic friends seems to foster leadership skills especially in children with a genetic likelihood for leadership.     

“The chug is coming through!” “There's two chuggas!”: A longitudinal study of the social function of imitation in children's play with siblings and friends

Imitation is argued to have an important affiliative function in social relationships. However, children's tendency to imitate different play partners during naturalistic play and associations with social understanding have been overlooked. We investigated the frequency and context of imitation in a longitudinal study of 65 focal children (T1: M age = 56.4 months, SD = 5.71) during play with their older or younger sibling and a friend in two separate play sessions. Children were observed again approximately 3 years later (T2: n = 46, M age = 94.6 months; SD = 6.6). We coded focal children's verbal and nonverbal imitation of their play partner, their partner's response to being imitated, the context in which imitation occurred (e.g., pretense), and the focal child's social understanding (i.e., mental state references). Verbal imitation occurred more often than nonverbal imitation and was used most often during the contexts of play negotiations and pretense. Although focal children's imitation of both their siblings and friends increased significantly over time, children imitated friends more than siblings at T1. All play partners responded positively (i.e., smiling, laughing) most often to being imitated. Associations between focal child imitation and mental state talk with friends at T2 approached significance. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the nature of imitation during children's play interactions and support assertions that imitation is a process whereby children build affiliation, mutuality, and shared meanings in their relationships.     

The Family Contexts of Gender Development in Childhood and Adolescence

We review research on the family's role in gender development during childhood and adolescence. Our discussion highlights children's dyadic family relationship experiences with their parents and siblings; additionally, we describe ways in which the larger system of family relationships, including gendered dynamics in the marriage and the differential family experiences of sisters versus brothers may have implications for gender development. We also emphasize the significance of contextual factors—ranging from situational demands and affordances to forces emanating from the larger social ecology—in family gender socialization. We conclude that family experiences may have a more important impact on gender development than has previously been believed, and we highlight directions for future study. These include: (1) applying more complex models of parent socialization and family dynamics to the study of the family's role in gender development; (2) expanding on research directed at the socialization of sex differences to study how family dynamics are linked to individual differences in girls’ and boys’ gendered qualities and behaviors; and (3) further exploring how contextual factors exert an impact on gender socialization in the family.     

Exploring dyadic teacher–child interactions,emotional security,and task engagement in preschool children displaying externalizing behaviors

Based on attachment theory, we tested whether the link between dyadic teacher–child interactions and task engagement operates through a child's security with the teacher. In a sample of preschoolers (N = 470) rated by their teachers as exhibiting elevated disruptive behaviors, the quality of dyadic teacher–child interactions and children's security were observed using a standardized task. Children's engagement with tasks was both observed in the preschool classroom and rated by the teacher. Results indicated that the quality of teacher–child dyadic interactions was associated directly with teacher‐reported task engagement, and indirectly associated, through a child's security, with observed task engagement. We discussed the contribution of these findings to our understanding of how the quality of dyadic teacher–child interactions may serve to regulate children's behavior in the classroom for children whose teachers perceive them as displaying early externalizing behaviors.     

Temperament,mothers' reactions to children's emotional experiences,and emotion understanding predicting adjustment in preschool children

It is expected that both children and their parents contribute to children's development of emotion knowledge and adjustment. Bidirectional relations between child temperament (fear, frustration, executive control) and mothers' reactions to children's emotional experiences were examined to explore how these variables predict children's emotion understanding, social competence, and problem behaviors. Preschool‐aged children (N = 306) and their mothers were assessed across four‐time points. Children's temperament and mothers' non‐supportive reactions to children's emotional experiences were assessed when children were 36 and 45 months of age. Emotion understanding was assessed when the children were 54 months of age and teachers reported on children's problem behaviors and social competence when the children were 63 months of age. Covariates included family income, child cognitive ability, gender, and child adjustment at 36 months. Results from path analyses demonstrated that bidirectional relations between children's temperament and mothers' non‐supportive reactions were not significant. However, mother's non‐supportive reactions directly predicted fewer problem behaviors, and children's emotion understanding mediated the relation between children's executive control and their later social competence. As such, emotion understanding appears to be one mechanism through which executive control might impact social competence.     

With Whom and Where You Play: Preschoolers' Social Context Predicts Peer Victimization

This short‐term longitudinal study assessed the relations between the social context of children's play (playgroup size, playgroup gender composition, and play setting) in the fall and peer victimization in the spring for low‐income, minority, preschool girls and boys. Gender differences in these associations, as well as the moderating effect of children's individual problem behavior, were considered. Using a multiple‐brief observation procedure, preschoolers' (N = 255, 49 percent girls) naturally occurring play in each type of social context was recorded throughout the fall semester. Observers also rated children's victimization and problem behaviors in the fall, and teachers rated children's victimization at the end of the school year. Findings suggested that social context variables predicted spring victimization above and beyond fall victimization and individual levels of problem behavior, and that these associations varied for boys and girls. The findings signify the importance of the social context on changes in peer victimization.     

Linkages between parent—child interaction and conversations of friends

In this study we examined how mothers' and fathers' parenting behavior during parent—child interaction related to children's ability to successfully interact with peers. Children's ability to engage in coordinated interaction, and their negativity and positivity towards peers were examined. Observational data were collected on 56 families in both parent—child and peer interaction settings. Results suggested that father's emotional volatility was related to children's tendency to play at a low level of engagement with their best friends (e.g. engage in parallel play or monologue). Both mother's and father's affective communication were related to children's tendency to play at a higher level of engagement, such as through establishing common ground activities, exchanging information, and self-disclosing personal information or feelings. Parental intrusiveness, low engagement and use of derisive humor was also related to children's negativity during peer interaction. Results support the hypothesis that both fathers and mothers provide a context for children's development of the ability to engage in and maintain interpersonal interaction, and mothers' parenting may influence the amount of positive affect children express during dyadic play.     

Black‐White Biracial Children's Social Development from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade: Links with Racial Identification,Gender, and Socioeconomic Status

In this study, we investigated trajectories of Black‐White biracial children's social development during middle childhood, their associations with parents’ racial identification of children, and the moderating effects of child gender and family socioeconomic status (SES). The study utilized data from parent and teacher reports on 293 US Black‐White biracial children enrolled in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS‐K). Growth curve models suggested increasing trajectories of teacher‐reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors between kindergarten and fifth grade. Parents’ racial identification of children predicted child externalizing behavior trajectories such that teachers rated biracially identified children's externalizing behaviors lower relative to those of Black‐ and White‐identified children. Additionally, for White‐identified biracial children, the effect of family SES on internalizing behavior trajectories was especially pronounced. These findings suggest that in the USA, how parents racially identify their Black‐White biracial children early on has important implications for children's problem behaviors throughout the elementary school years.     

Changing tides: Mothers’ supportive emotion socialization relates negatively to third‐grade children's social adjustment in school

Parents’ supportive reactions to children's negative emotions are thought to promote children's social adjustment. Research heretofore has implicitly assumed that such reactions are equally supportive of children's adjustment across ages. Recent findings challenge this assumption, suggesting that during middle childhood, socialization practices previously understood as supportive may in fact impede children's social adjustment. We explored this possibility in a sample of 203 third‐grade children and their mothers. Using structural equation modeling, we tested associations between mothers’ supportive (i.e., problem‐ and emotion‐focused) reactions to children's negative emotions and children's social skills and problems as reported by mothers and teachers. Mothers’ supportive reactions predicted greater social adjustment in children as reported by mothers. Inverse associations, however, were found with teachers’ reports of children's social adjustment: mothers’ supportive reactions predicted fewer socioemotional skills and more problem behaviors. These contrasting patterns suggest potential unperceived costs associated with mothers’ supportiveness of children's negative emotions for third‐grade children's social adjustment in school and highlight the importance of considering associations between socialization practices and children's various social contexts. The findings also highlight a need for greater consideration of what supportiveness means across different developmental periods.     

Connections between preschoolers' temperament traits and social behaviors as observed in a preschool setting

A growing literature has focused on the role children's temperament traits play in social behavior, but associations have traditionally been explored through informant report. We utilized a longitudinal, observational approach to (a) examine how children's traits related to their social behaviors when aggregated across the school year; (b) explore how traits and social behavior relate to children's age and sex; and (c) test how prior traits predicted subsequent change in solitary, reticent, and social play, above and beyond mean‐level change in play behavior over the course of the year. Fifty‐three children were observed in their preschool classroom, where coders rated children's traits and social behaviors over the course of one school year (N = 26,673 observations). Results found positive age‐related associations for positive emotionality (PE) and social play. In addition, aggregated traits explained a significant amount of the variance for every social behavior. Prior levels of lower PE, higher negative emotionality (NE), and higher effortful control (EC) predicted more subsequent time spent in reticent play, while NE and EC approached significance as predictors of solitary play. These results emphasize the role of early disposition on mean levels and rates of change in social behavior in a classroom.     

Marital Conflict and Children's Adjustment: Parental Hostility and Children's Interpretations as Mediators

The associations between marital conflict, maternal and paternal hostility, children's interpretations of marital conflict, and children's adjustment were examined in a sample of 136 school‐aged children and their parents. Observational measures were collected from videotapes of marital interaction and family interaction. Self‐report data were collected from parents and children. Results showed that mothers’ and fathers’ hostility mediated the association between martial conflict and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Children's feelings of being to blame for marital conflict and being threatened by it mediated between marital conflict and children's internalizing problems but not their externalizing problems.     

Maternal Conflict Behavior Profiles and Child Social Skills

The current study examined associations between mothers’ behavioral profiles during mother‐child conflict interactions and their children's social skills. This person‐centered approach classified 181 mothers according to their levels of emotional responsiveness, intrusiveness, negativity, and engagement facilitation behaviors during an eight‐minute conflict discussion task with their child. Three distinct classes of mothers were identified using latent profile analysis: sensitive/engaged, moderately sensitive/engaged, and insensitive/disengaged. An analysis of covariance indicated that children of mothers in the sensitive/engaged group had significantly higher social skills than children of mothers in the moderately sensitive/engaged and insensitive/disengaged groups. Results suggest that mother‐child conflict interactions may benefit children's social development when mothers facilitate their children's participation in a highly sensitive manner.     

Children's Family Relationships Between Two and Five: Developmental Changes and Individual Differences

Developmental changes in children's relationships with their mothers and older siblings between 33 and 69 months of age were investigated in a longitudinal study of 47 families, through an examination of family conversations and affect expressed during unstructured home observations. Mother-child interaction decreased and sibling interaction increased markedly over the period. The prominence of reflective commentary in children's discourse increased while self-interested moves decreased with both partners; however differences in emotional expression and in patterns of change in the two relationships were marked, with more positive and negative emotion and play with siblings. Individual differences in the trajectory of these changes were correlated with early differences in social understanding, and with SES. The association between children's developing social understanding and these changes in relationships is discussed.     

Friends in high places: A dyadic perspective on peer status as predictor of friendship quality and the mediating role of empathy and prosocial behavior

Friendships and peer status play important roles in the social landscape of adolescents and are related to developmental outcomes. Yet, how peer status is related to friendship quality and what role social skills play in this association remains unclear. In this study, we use Actor–Partner Interdependence (Mediation) Modeling (Ledermann, Macho, & Kenny, 2011 ) to investigate how two forms of peer status, preference and popularity, are related to positive and negative friendship quality in mid‐adolescence. Results show that adolescents who are friends with more preferred (i.e., likeable) and popular adolescents report higher friendship quality. These partner effects were partially mediated by adolescents’ own prosocial behavior and their friends’ empathy levels. Higher levels of empathy of one's friend and one's own lesser preference for equity explained why adolescents were more satisfied in a friendship with highly preferred (i.e., likeable) adolescents. Interestingly, empathy was not a mediator for the link between friendship quality and popularity. These findings promote a better understanding of the interplay between different levels of social complexity (i.e., individual, dyadic and peer group level) in adolescence.     

Making sense of social pretense: The effect of the dyad,sex, and language ability in a large observational study of children’s behaviors in a social pretend play context

Pretend play with peers is purportedly an important driver of social development in the preschool period; however, fundamental questions regarding the features of children's pretend play with a peer, and the effect of the dyad for pretend play, have been overlooked. The current study undertook detailed behavioral coding of social pretend play in 134 pairs of 5‐year‐old children (54% boys) in order to address three main aims: (a) describe the duration and proportion of children engaging in key social pretend play behaviors, namely calls for attention, negotiation (comprising role assignment and joint proposals) and enactment of pretend play, (b) examine the effect of the dyad in influencing the occurrence of different social pretend play behaviors, and (c) assess the independent and combined effect of individual child characteristics (i.e., language ability and sex) that may influence social pretend play behaviors beyond the influence of the dyad. Results demonstrated the overwhelming effect of the dyad in shaping children's social pretend play behaviors, with language ability and sex explaining relatively little of the total variability in play behaviors. Results are discussed considering the contribution that this type of study can make to theories of associations between children's social development and social pretend play.     

Teachers' Perceptions of Conflict with Young Students: Looking beyond Problem Behaviors

Teachers' judgments of relational conflict are unique indicators of children's academic and social adjustment. Using a large, hierarchically nested sample of preschoolers (N = 2282) and teachers (N = 597) this study examines the individual and classroom factors associated with teachers' ratings of conflict, both before and after adjusting for problem behaviors ratings. Over half of the variance in teachers' reports of conflict with children was explained by ratings of children's problem behaviors. However, many children had more (or less) conflict than predicted based on teacher‐rated problem behavior. Older children were more likely to have conflictual relationships with teachers than expected based on their level of problem behavior. Furthermore, teachers who reported more depression and lower self‐efficacy and teachers who were observed to provide less emotional support in the classroom tended to report more conflict with students in their classroom than expected based on levels of problem behaviors.