Gaze Following in Newborns

Eye gaze has been shown to be an effective cue for directing attention in adults. Whether this ability operates from birth is unknown. Three experiments were carried out with 2‐ to 5‐day‐old newborns. The first experiment replicated the previous finding that newborns are able to discriminate between direct and averted gaze, and extended this finding from real to schematic faces. In Experiments 2 and 3 newborns were faster to make saccades to peripheral targets cued by the direction of eye movement of a central schematic face, but only when the motion of the pupils was visible. These results suggest that newborns may show a rudimentary form of gaze following.     

Popularity as an Affordance for Friendship: The Link Between Group and Dyadic Experience*

The associations between measures of popularity (acceptance, rejection and preference) and friendship were examined in three independent samples of elementary and middle school children. Data were obtained by means of sociometric nomination and rating scale procedures. Results reveal that, regardless of measurement technique, acceptance is generally more strongly related to friendship than is either rejection or preference. The size of the association between popularity and friendship decreases with age. Mean comparisons show that popularity is a predictor and/or is temporally antecedent to friendship rather than vice-versa. These results indicate that the association between popularity and friendship derives from their conceptual dependence on the construct of liking.     

Predictors of contraceptive use by adolescent mothers

This study examines the differences between adolescents who do versus those who do not use contraceptives after the birth of their first child. The sample consists of 89 low-income mothers in the state of Indiana. A discriminant function analysis is used to determine if the adolescents' home environment, financial resources, self-esteem, or future orientation discriminates between contracepting and noncontracepting adolescents. If the adolescent is not receiving financial support from a romantic partner, intends to have another child within the next year, and expects to be a single parent in one year, she is less likely to be using contraceptives.     

The Judge Specificity of Evaluations of Youth Social Behavior: The Case of Peer Provocation

Increasingly, theorists have suggested that social competence is an evaluative construct that will vary as a function of who is judging behavior. This study examined how two key groups in children's social environments—peers (N = 663, age range = 10.83–15.25 years) and teachers (N = 49)—rated the effectiveness of different behaviors generated by youth in response to physical, verbal, and relational provocation by peers. Results indicated that youth evaluated aggressive responses as more effective than teachers whereas teachers evaluated seeking an explanation as more effective than youth. Both groups judged responses combining assertive and aggressive elements to be more effective than ‘pure’ aggression. Implications for measurement and intervention models of social competence are discussed.     

Marrying,Unmarrying, and Poverty Dynamics among Mothers with Children Living at Home

Using the two-way transitions model and a sample of mothers with children living at home who experienced poverty, we examined how the changes in mothers’ marital status relate to the odds of exiting and reentering poverty. The data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort (1979–1998). This study found an asymmetric association between poverty dynamics and becoming unmarried. Becoming unmarried was associated with increased odds of both getting out of poverty and reentering poverty, where the magnitude of the latter is greater than that of the former, when family background, family characteristics, and human capital and employment factors are controlled.     

Self‐control and Resistance to School*

Dans cet article, on examine la relation entre l'autocontrôle, le contrôle social et la résistance au système scolaire. Les données d'étude sont tirées d'un sondage réalisé auprès d'étudiants des premier et deuxième cycles du secondaire en Alberta. Les résultats de ce sondage penchent fortement en faveur de la General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson et Hirschi, 1990), selon laquelle la perte d'autocontrôle est le prédicteur le plus sûr de tous les types de résistance. Les résultats soutiennent l'hypothèse voulant que, si le lien entre classe sociale (ou bien genre ou appartenance ethnique) et résistance est ténu (au Canada du moins), c'est peut‐être parce que les mécanismes d'autocontrôle qui suscitent ou rejettent le phénomène de résistance ne sont pas intimement liés à la classe sociale (ou bien au genre ou à l'appartenance ethnique). Toutefois, le sexe, l'âge, la classe sociale et l'appartenance ethnique restent étroitement liés à certains ou à l'ensemble des aspects de la résistance au système scolaire même en présence d'autocontrôle. Les conclusions de la General Theory of Crime et leurs répercussions sont également abordées ici. This paper tests the relationship between self‐control, social control and resistance to school. The data source is a survey of senior and junior high‐school students in Alberta, Canada. Results offer strong support for the General Theory of Crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990) in that lack of self‐control is the strongest predictor of all types of resistance. The results support the hypothesis that if the link between social class (or gender and ethnicity) and resistance is low (at least in Canada), it may be because self‐control mechanisms that produce or repudiate resistance are not strongly linked to social class (or gender and ethnicity). Nevertheless, gender, age, class and ethnicity maintain a significant relationship with some or all aspects of resistance to school even after controlling for self‐control. Implications of the findings for the General Theory of Crime are discussed.     

A Comparison of Horse-Race, Bingo, and Video Poker Gamblers in Brazilian Gambling Settings

In the present study Brazilian gamblers from different settings were compared on socio-demographic characteristics, gambling behavior, and use of drugs. The SOGS was administered to 171 subjects at bingo (BG), video poker (VP), and horse-racing clubs (HR) of São Paulo. BG concentrated most women, VP the youngest and single gamblers, and HR the lowest income subjects. More VP than HR or BG gamblers reported taking time off work to gamble, as well as returning another day to win back lost money. They also had a higher number of scorable responses on the SOGS. The differences observed suggest that VP gamblers bear a greater risk of developing a pathological gambling pattern. The authors suggest that measures should be taken aimed at the prevention of pathological gambling, particularly among the young population of video poker gamblers.