Associations between sleep consolidation in infancy and peer relationships in middle childhood

Sleep plays an important role in many aspects of children's development. Research on children's sleep and their peer relationships has begun to emerge in the last years. However, these studies are mostly cross‐sectional. The current study aimed to investigate the associations between infant sleep and peer relationships in middle childhood. The sample comprised 72 children. Sleep was measured at 1 year using a sleep diary completed by mothers. In the second and third grades of elementary school (7 and 8 years of age), mothers and fathers reported on their children's functioning with peers. When they were in third grade, children were interviewed regarding their friendship quality with a best friend. Results revealed negative associations between children's sleep consolidation (i.e., ratio of nighttime sleep) and parent‐reported peer problems, and positive associations between sleep consolidation and perceived friendship quality. These findings suggest that well‐regulated sleep in infancy may help children develop the skills necessary for later appropriate social functioning in peer contexts.     

Managing the Risk of Aggressive Dog Behavior: Investigating the Influence of Owner Threat and Efficacy Perceptions

Aggressive behavior in pet dogs is a serious problem for dog owners across the globe, with bite injuries representing a serious risk to both people and other dogs. The effective management of aggressive behavior in dogs represents a challenging and controversial issue. Although positive reinforcement training methods are now considered to be the most effective and humane technique to manage the risk of aggression, punishment‐based methods continue to be used. Unfortunately, there has been little scientific study into the various factors influencing whether dog owners choose to use positive reinforcement techniques to manage aggression in their dogs. As such, current understanding of how best to encourage and support dog owners to use these methods remains extremely limited. This article uses a survey methodology based on protection motivation theory (PMT) to investigate the factors that influence owner use of positive reinforcement methods to manage aggressive behavior, in an attempt to understand potential barriers and drivers of use. In addition, the article provides an initial exploration of the potential role of wider psychological factors, including owner emotional state, social influence, and cognitive bias. Findings show that the perceived efficacy of positive reinforcement methods and the perceived ability of owners to effectively implement the technique are both key factors predicting future intentions and current reported use. Future interventions should focus on enhancing owner confidence in the effective use of positive reinforcement techniques across multiple scenarios, as well as helping owners manage their own emotional responses when they encounter challenging situations and setbacks.     

近代天皇制:日本发动对外战争的罪魁

近代天皇制是日本对外侵略战争连绵不断之深层次、制度意义上的原因。因为近代天皇制是日本政治制度的核心 ,是军国主义的基础 ;天皇是战时国家的最高军事统帅 ,是国家最高领导人和最终决策者 ,天皇无论是在战前、战时、战后 ,都是日本国民教育的精神领袖。     

常德细菌战与日本侵略

日本对常德发动细菌战攻击 ,给常德人民带来巨大的灾难。常德会战是常德细菌战的继续 ,细菌战是日本侵略中国和世界的依靠力量。常德细菌战只是日本违反国际公约和人道原则的一小部分。为了维护世界和平 ,对于因美国包庇而逃避了军事法庭审判的日本细菌战战犯 ,我们必须予以充分地揭露和批判 ,日本政府更应深刻反省 ,认罪赔偿。     

Distal and Proximal Factors in Domestic Violence: A Test of an Integrated Model

We employed 4,095 couples from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test a model of couple violence drawn from several theoretical perspectives. The outcome distinguishes among nonviolent couples and those experiencing either physical aggression or intense male violence. According to the model, background characteristics of couples are related to relationship stressors, which affect the risk of violence via their tendency to promote verbal conflict. Considerable support for the model was found. Couples were at higher risk for one or both forms of violence if they were younger at union inception, had been together for less time, were both in their first union, had only one partner who was employed, had a nontraditional woman paired with a traditional man, had at least one partner who abused substances, had more children, had more frequent disagreements, exhibited a more hostile disagreement style, or lived in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. Moreover, the effects of stressors such as the number of children and couples' employment status disparities appear to be mediated by disagreement frequency and disagreement style.     

儿童攻击行为的性别差异

文章论述了攻击行为发展的性别差异特点,生物因素和环境因素对儿童攻击行为性别差异的影响,以及儿童攻击行为的矫正方法。     

Teachers' Reactions to Children's Aggression

Drawing on social schema theory ( Fiske & Taylor, 1991 ) and social identity theory ( Tajfel & Turner, 1979 ), this study examined the impact on teachers’ reactions to children's aggression of three variables, two of which were related to the aggressors and one was related to the teachers. Experienced female elementary school teachers (N =90) each read a scenario that described an aggressive episode committed by a group of boys against a boy from another class. The aggressors were either good or bad children, who were either popular or unpopular with their classroom peers. In addition, the scenario manipulated the teachers’ identification with, or commitment to, the class to be either high or low. Analysis of the teachers’ ratings of causal responsibility, liking, and recommended punishment revealed a consistent negative response from the teachers towards the aggressors versus the victim. However, the teachers’ responses were also interactively influenced by the aggressors’ goodness and popularity, as well as the teachers’ class identification. The results are discussed in relation to other findings on teachers’ responses to school aggression and bullying, as well as how their responses might best be explained.     

The Prevention of Social Aggression Among Girls

This study represents the first systematic attempt to examine a theory‐based program designed to reduce girls' social aggression and increase positive leadership among peers. Fifth‐grade girls from six public schools were randomly assigned within classrooms to the social aggression prevention program (SAPP) and the comparison reading clubs. A school‐based small group program, the SAPP was demonstrated to have a positive impact for all students in the domain of social problem solving. For students with high baseline social problems, teachers reported positive changes in SAPP participants' prosocial behavior. In addition, the content of the program was critical: reading club participants improved their reading achievement at greater rates than SAPP participants. Targeting female students in a program focused on resolving social conflicts from multiple perspectives may be an important addition to broader, multilevel initiatives to prevent aggression and promote leadership in schools.     

Dyadic Analyses of Preschool‐aged Children's Friendships: Convergence and Differences between Friendship Classifications from Peer Sociometric Data and Teacher's Reports

Peer sociometrics and teachers' friendship reports were compared in 2179 preschool dyads. One hundred twenty of 306 reciprocated friend dyads from peer sociometric data were also identified as good friends by their classroom teachers, and 301 of 600 of non‐reciprocated dyads in peer data were named as friends by one or both classroom teachers (overall kappa = .16). Friendship classifications from both peer and teacher data had significant relations with variables relevant to peer interactions, social skills, peer acceptance, and teacher‐rated scales (six of seven tests significant for peer data; five of eight significant for teacher data). Multilevel analyses indicated that friendship status effects were not qualified by classroom‐level differences. Findings suggest that sociometric tasks can identify preschoolers' peer friendships and that the range of correlates may be broader in peer‐choice data than in teachers' friendship evaluations.     

Relations Between Alphabetized Name Order and Nomination Counts in Peer Nomination Measures

Peer nominations, a central method for measuring peer relationships in developmental research, typically involve asking children or adolescents to choose peers who fit various criteria from an alphabetized roster of classmates or grade‐mates. Although such measures have been used for decades, very little research has investigated the effects of alphabetical name order on the number of nominations received by peers. This study collected peer nominations for 20 items among 607 eighth grade participants in two schools. Regression analyses showed that earlier name order significantly predicted higher nomination counts for eight of the items, and explained over 5 percent of the variance in four affective variables (friendship, acceptance, acquaintanceship, and received liking). Across variables, name order effects were negatively correlated with internal reliability of nominations, implying that order effects may be related to the consensus of the peer group. Name order also had a minimal effect on inter‐correlations among a subset of variables. Implications and concrete recommendations for controlling and reducing name order effects in future research are discussed.