Risk-taking/gambling-like behavior in preschool children

The types and characteristics of risk-taking or gambling-like behaviors in children are not well understood. Social learning, as one potential etiological factor of risktaking behavior in preschool children, was empirically examined. Prior to playing a risk-taking game, children in the experimental group were exposed to a peer model who had ostensibly won a large prize, whereas control children were exposed to a peer model who had won nothing. Children in the experimental group initiated more risks to win the large prize in the high-risk situation than children in the control group. The results indicated that modeling can enhance risk-taking/gambling-like behavior in young children. Parallels to compulsive gambling in adults, and recommendations for future research were also discussed.The authors wish to thank Melissa Warren and Earlene Goodman for their valuable assistance during the course of this study.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA 1991.     

Fundamental principles of network formation among preschool children

The goal of this research was to investigate the origins of social networks by examining the formation of children's peer relationships in 11 preschool classes throughout the school year. We investigated whether several fundamental processes of relationship formation were evident at this age, including reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure effects. We expected these mechanisms to change in importance over time as the network crystallizes, allowing more complex structures to evolve from simpler ones in a process we refer to as structural cascading. We analyzed intensive longitudinal observational data of children's interactions using the SIENA actor-based model. We found evidence that reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure all shaped the formation of preschool children's networks. The influence of reciprocity remained consistent, whereas popularity and triadic closure became increasingly important over the course of the school year. Interactions between age and endogenous network effects were non-significant, suggesting that these network formation processes were not moderated by age in this sample of young children. We discuss the implications of our longitudinal network approach and findings for the study of early network developmental processes.     

Display rule behavior and understanding in preschool children

Display rule behavior and understanding were compared in 72 4- to 6-year-old boys and girls. In Study 1, children listened to stories in which the protagonist was in a positive or in a negative mood. The motivation to hide his or her emotional state was either prosocial or self-centered. Stories with no discrepancy between feeling and expression were included as a control condition. Subjects were asked to identify the protagonist's real feelings and facial expression. Older children were more accurate than younger ones in recognizing that real and apparent emotions did not coincide in the self-centered and prosocial stories. Girls produced more correct answers than boys in the prosocial condition. In Study 2, children were examined in a situation in which they were expected to hide their disappointment about an unattractive gift. They were either observed (social situation) or not observed (nonsocial situation) by the experimenter when receiving the gift. Irrespective of age, preschoolers regulated their nonverbal behavior appropriately in the social situation. The comparison of both data sets revealed that even younger preschoolers follow display rules in their behavior before fully grasping the distinction between real and apparent emotions.This article is based on a portion of the author's doctoral dissertation. It is dedicated to the author's supervisor, Klaus Schneider, who died in January 1994. The author wishes to thank her second supervisor, Carolyn Saarni, for her many helpful suggestions. Thanks are extended to the children and teachers who participated in this research. Gratitude is also expressed to Monika Rüth for her assistance in data collection and coding.Portions of these data were presented at the 60th meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, March 1993.     

Father loss and father absence in preschool children

The role of the father in child development is discussed. Children's reactions to the death, separation, or divorce of their fathers are explored. Implications for diagnosis are stated along with specific recommendations for treatment. Crucial factors in diabnosis and treatment were concluded to be: the developmental stage of the child at the time of the loss, the reason for the father's absence, the state of the relationship with the father prior to the loss, the mother's reaction to the loss of her husband, and the environment provided for the child subsequent to the loss.     

Child day care and the employment of AFDC recipients with preschool children

In the context of recent federal initiatives to increase the affordability, accessibility, and quality of child care for the working poor, this article examines the degree to which expanding the supply of publicly subsidized child care in local communities may promote, through employment, the independence from welfare and economic self-sufficiency of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients with preschool-aged children. In a telephone survey of a random sample of 232 AFDC recipients who participated in a larger federally sponsored demonstration project in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, many respondents reported the lack of available child care as a barrier either to employment or to the attainment of a preferred job. Although it is concluded that increases in the availability of subsidized child care should be a component of any strategy to increase the level of employment participation, continuity, and success for this population, the results underscore the need for a multi-faceted intervention strategy to reduce the welfare dependency and to increase the economic self-sufficiency of these parents. Implications for further research are suggested.The data for this investigation were collected under Authorization No. 89-3-WR-NC-008 to the North Carolina Department of Human Resources from the Division of Program Evaluation, Office of Family Assistance, Family Support Administration, Department of Health and Human Services. Additional support was provided under Grant No. 5-44232 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University Research Council, Office of Research Services. The views and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the North Carolina Department of Human Resources.He received his Ph.D. in Family Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1981. He is a specialist in work and family linkages, policy analysis and evaluation, and survey research methodology. He served as principal investigator on the child care evaluation study that is the basis for this article.He received his Ph.D. in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1982. He is a specialist in evaluation and research methodology, information dissemination and use patterns in public sector agencies, and welfare policy and initiatives. He served as project director for the study described in this article.     

Parents' observations of the effect of a sexual-abuse prevention program on preschool children

A questionnaire survey of 233 parents (approximately a 30% sample) of very young children receiving a school-based sexual abuse prevention program reported a general absence of adverse effects. The authors discuss the relative significance of the study.     

The TacVi technique: a tactile-visual method for exploring the self-concept of preschool children

Efforts to investigate preschool children's self-concept have not been notably successful, despite historical interest in the developmental aspects of the self. The authors offer the TacVi technique as a tactile and visual method for exploring young children's perceptions of themselves in comparison with their peers.     

Clinical assessment of mother-son sexual abuse

This paper explores the possibility that cases of mother-son incest are underreported in the literature on child sexual abuse. Clinical cases of mother-son incest are presented and factors which may account for an underreporting of such cases are discussed. A cultural bias viewing mothers as asexual and males as sexual aggressors is suggested as the primary reason that cases of maternal sexual abuse are rarely identified or reported. Guidelines are provided for clinical assessment of possible cases of mother-son sexual abuse.     

Mental health needs assessment of children and adolescents

Needs assessment is essential input for program planning. Little data are, however, available about the various approaches and whether strategies for needs assessment are viable. It was found by an inexpensive methodology that opinions about the importance of various services, opinions about the potential acceptance of services, services provided, and the total need for services are interrelated. A hybrid approach that utilized data from teachers and the people that provide mental health services was also a practical means to obtain information about the unmet needs of children and adolescents in the country. Data supported the value of this technique for the assessment of the unmet needs of children and adolescents. Thus, an inexpensive methodology can provide useful information from multiple perspectives.     

An assessment of self-echoic behavior in young children

In the behavioral literature, self-echoic behavior has been hypothesized to play an important role in, for example, emergent conditional discriminations (e.g., Lowenkron, 1991), emergent verbal operants (Horne & Lowe, 1996), and problem solving (Skinner, 1957). Although early behavioral intervention programs for children with autism emphasize the establishment of accurate echoic repertoires, the type of stimulus control that defines a self-echoic response is typically not addressed. We report the development of a self-echoic assessment procedure that was administered to children with and without autism spectrum disorders. Preliminary results indicated that a discrepancy between echoic and self-echoic repertoires was more likely to be present among participants with autism than among typically developing participants. Future research should evaluate the extent to which interventions to establish self-echoic responding might produce other collateral benefits.     

Psychological assessment through performance-based techniques and self-reports: a case study of a sexually abused girl at preschool age

We investigated the implicit psychological and behavioral consequences of sexual abuse in an adolescent girl who suffered child sexual abuse at preschool age in this case report. We report the manifestations of this abuse on her personality and psychological functioning using a structured clinical interview and a comprehensive psychological battery including the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Standard Progressive Matrices, Rorschach Ink Blots, and the Schema Mode Inventory. These investigations were useful in formulating both a diagnosis and a management plan. The girl fulfilled diagnostic criteria for a major depressive episode and borderline personality disorder. This combination of psychological testing may be useful in establishing an accurate multiaxial diagnosis and for understanding the behavioral and psychological sequelae of child sexual abuse in similar cases. The study further suggests that schema-focused therapy is a useful therapeutic tool for individuals who have suffered child sexual abuse at an early age and who have borderline personality disorder.