Predicting Children's Prosocial and Co‐operative Behavior from Their Temperamental Profiles: A Person‐centered Approach

The goal of this study was to examine how aspects of self‐regulation and negative emotionality predicted children's co‐operative and prosocial behavior concurrently and longitudinally using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Mothers completed measures of children's temperamental proneness to negative emotionality and self‐regulation at 54 months. Teachers and parents completed measures of children's co‐operative and prosocial behavior at 54 months, first grade, and third grade. A latent profile analysis of the temperamental variables revealed four profiles of children: those high in regulation and low in negative emotionality, those moderate in regulation and moderate in negative emotionality, those low in regulation and high in negative emotionality, and finally those who were very low in regulation but high in anger emotionality. Generally, children with profiles that were high or moderate in terms of regulation and low or moderate in terms of negative emotionality were rated as the most prosocial and co‐operative. Children with profiles that were less well regulated and who were high in negative emotionality (particularly anger proneness) were rated as less co‐operative and prosocial by parents and teachers.     

Permutation tests of scale using deviances

Robust tests for comparing scale parameters, based on deviances—absolute deviations from the median—are examined. Higgins (2004) proposed a permutation test for comparing two treatments based on the ratio of deviances, but the performance of this procedure has not been investigated. A simulation study examines the performance of Higgins’ test relative to other tests of scale utilizing deviances that have been shown in the literature to have good properties. An extension of Higgins’ procedure to three or more treatments is proposed, and a second simulation study compares its performance to other omnibus tests for comparing scale. While no procedure emerged as a preferred choice in every scenario, Higgins’ tests are found to perform well overall with respect to Type I error rate and power.     

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.     

Playground Accessibility and Neighbourhood Social Interaction Among Parents

While the positive association between social interaction and access to green space is well accepted, little research has sought to understand the role of children??s playgrounds in facilitating social interaction within a community. Playgrounds are spaces designed to facilitate play and the interaction of children, but may also be important places of interaction between parents. In this paper we examine how access to playground spaces is related to social interaction between parents. We use two measures of accessibility (1) walking distance to the closest playground and (2) playground service area, a measure of the number of potential users of a playground based on population density. We use generalized estimating equations, an extension of generalized linear models, to control for the confounding effects of socio-economic status (income, education), neighbourhood dynamics (neighbourhood location, years in neighbourhood) and free time (daily outdoor activity, marital status, number of children) on the independent relationship between social interaction and access to playground spaces. Our results suggest that while accessibility to playgrounds is associated with social interaction among parents, the direction of the effect is opposite to existing literature on green space and social interaction; parents with low accessibility to playgrounds are more likely to interact socially with their neighbours than parents with high accessibility. Our results suggest a pattern of spatial behaviour in which the burden of poor access to some resources may actually encourage greater neighbourhood engagement. Future research studying the relationship between health and green space may benefit from studying the specific role of playground spaces.     

In Control or Fatalistically Ruled? The Sense of Mastery among Working Canadians

Using data from a 2011 nationally representative sample of Canadian workers (N = 5,576), the present study evaluates the social–structural determinants of the sense of mastery. Three main contributions emerge. First, we document that each of the main components of socioeconomic status—education, income, occupation, and economic hardship—have distinct total, indirect, and net associations with mastery. The well‐educated report more mastery because of their higher earnings—but exposure to more role blurring and work–family conflict offset what would otherwise be their even higher levels of mastery. Second, job‐related demands and resources have largely independent associations with mastery, but our analyses also reveal some key areas of overlap. Third, role‐blurring activities—and their connections with work‐to‐family conflict and family‐to‐work conflict—offer unique expansions to the overall narrative of mastery, with unexpected explanatory and suppression effects. We interpret each of these observations in an effort to advance recent theoretical perspectives about mastery. À partir de données recueillies en 2011 auprès d'un échantillon représentatif national de travailleurs canadiens (n = 5,576), cette étude examine les déterminants sociostructurels de la maitrise de soi. Trois principales contributions découlent de cette étude. Premièrement, chaque composante du statut socioéconomique, soit l’éducation, le revenu, la profession de même que la précarité économique, a une association distincte et indirecte avec la maitrise de soi. Par exemple, les travailleurs instruits ressentent un plus grand sentiment de maitrise de soi dû à leur revenu supérieur. Toutefois, l'ambigüité de rôle et le conflit travail‐famille, plus fréquents chez ces derniers, atténuent cette relation. Deuxièmement, les demandes et les ressources liées au travail sont indirectement associées avec la maitrise de soi. Cependant, nos analyses démontrent que certains secteurs importants se chevauchent. Troisièmement, les liens entre les secteurs d'activités pour lesquelles il y a ambigüité de rôle et les conflits travail‐famille et les conflits famille‐travail permettent de mieux comprendre le concept de maitrise de soi chez les travailleurs canadiens. Nos analyses démontrent des effets inattendus explicatifs et de suppression. Nous interprétons chacune des ces observations en vue de faire avancer les perspectives théoriques récentes en ce qui a trait à la maitrise de soi.     

Moments of suprema of random variables

The supremum of random variables representing a sequence of rewards is of interest in establishing the existence of optimal stopping rules. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for existence of moments of sup_n(X_n ? c_n) and sup_n(S_n ? c_n) where X₁, X₂, … are i.i.d. random variables, S_n = X₁ + … + X_n, and c_n = (nL(n))^1/r, 0 < r < 2, L = 1, L = log, and L = log log. Following Cohn (1974), “rates of convergence” results are used in the proof.     

Differences by gender, ethnicity, and acculturation in the efficacy of the keepin' it REAL model prevention program

This study examined whether the efficacy of keepin' it REAL, a model program for substance use prevention in schools, was moderated by gender, ethnicity, and acculturation. Gender differences in program efficacy may arise through boys' higher risk of drug use, inadequate attention to girls' developmental issues, or cultural factors like polarized gender expectations. Data came from a randomized trial in 35 Phoenix, Arizona, middle schools involving 4,622 mostly Latino 7th graders. Using multi-level mixed models and multiple imputation missing techniques, results for the total sample showed no gender differences in program effects on recent substance use, but the program was more effective in fostering boys' than girls' anti-drug norms. Subgroup analyses demonstrated several more beneficial program effects for boys than girls (less alcohol and cigarette use and stronger anti-drug norms), but only among less acculturated Latinos. There were no gender differences in program effects among more acculturated Latinos, nor among non-Latino whites.     

The life-course origins of mastery among older people

In this article, we aim to identify the sources of mastery--the understanding that individuals hold about their ability to control the circumstances of their lives. The sample for our inquiry was drawn from the Medicare beneficiary files of people 65 and older living in Washington, DC, and two adjoining Maryland counties. We find that past circumstances, particularly those reflecting status attainment and early exposure to intractable hardships, converge with stressors experienced in late life to influence elders' level of mastery. The impact of past conditions, however, does not necessarily directly affect the current mastery of older people. Instead, the effect of prior experiences on current mastery is mediated by what we refer to as life-course mastery: one's belief that one has directed and managed the trajectories that connect one's past to the present. Our analyses show that life-course mastery largely serves as the mediating channel through which individuals connect their past to their present.     

Operationalizing environmental indicators for physical activity in older adults

This qualitative study describes environmental supports and barriers to physical activity in an older adult sample drawn from low- and high-walkable neighborhoods. Thirty-seven individuals age 55 and over were recruited and answered open-ended survey questions, with a subsample invited back to partake in a semistructured interview. Content analysis identified categories and themes linking perceptions of neighborhood-environment characteristics to activity. Emerging categories and themes did not differ across neighborhood walkability, so results are presented for both groups combined. Infrastructure was the most common category identified to encourage activity, specifically, well-maintained sidewalks, bike paths or lanes, and traffic control. Other categories of land use, landscape, and aesthetics were reported. Poorly maintained or missing sidewalks, crosswalks, bike paths or lanes, and traffic safety were categories that discouraged activity. In conclusion, the information obtained is helpful in solidifying which environmental characteristics are important to measure as they relate to activity behavior in an older adult population.