Examined the relations of emotionality and regulation to preschoolers' naturally occurring anger reactions through observations of behavior. Children's use of verbal objections to anger situations were positively related to constructive coping and attentional control, particularly for boys, and negatively related to girls' anger intensity,…

Investigates developmental change and gender differences in sympathy and personal distress reactions in children. Examines interrelations among indexes used to assess sympathy and personal distress. (PCB)

Examined angry conflict incidents in a sample of 108 children ages 7 to 11, focusing on relations of anger-related internal and behavioral reactions to children's social functioning. Found that individual differences in children's social functioning were related to boys' anger-related goals and children's anger-related strategies. (MDM)

Third and sixth graders were induced to experience sympathy and distress with procedures to examine: possibility that facial and heart-rate markers and self-report indices could differentiate sympathetic and distress reactions; age and sex differences in markers of response modes; relations of empathy, parental attitudes toward expression of…

This study examined demographic and individual difference variables that predicted level of Brazilian adolescents' prosocial moral judgment and self-reported prosocial behavior; it also tested mediating or moderating relations among predictors. Findings generally were consistent with contention that tendency to take others' perspectives and to…

Examined the relationship of kindergartners' to second graders' dispositional sympathy to individual differences in emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Found that sympathy was associated with relatively high levels of regulation, teacher-reported positive emotionality, and general emotional intensity; and, especially for boys, high…

Examined the reactions of 201 elementary school children to direct and indirect help and the moderating effects of grade, understanding of personality, and sex on children's reaction to aid. Results indicated that children high in the understanding of consistency of personality were more autonomous in the indirect than the direct help condition.…

Examined changes in prosocial moral reasoning and gender differences in prosocial reasoning over 15 years. Found that hedonistic reasoning declined and then increased somewhat; needs-oriented and stereotypic reasoning increased and then declined with age. Direct reciprocity and approval reasoning showed no decline into early adulthood, contrary to…

Investigates processes that might influence the degree of association between preschoolers' sex-role stereotyped toy choices and their choice of same-sex versus opposite-sex playmates. A total of 51 children in preschool classes for four-year-olds were observed during free play over nine weeks. (Author/RH)

The purposes of this study were (1) to explore the meaning of children's choices in toy preference tasks, and (2) to determine if children's understanding of sex appropriateness of toys is an important conscious determinant of sex-typed object choices. (Author/RH)

Examined the relations of mothers' and fathers' reported emotion-related practices to parents' and teachers' reports of third- to sixth-grade children's social skills, popularity, and coping. Found that mothers' problem-focused reactions were positively associated with children's social functioning and coping, whereas maternal minimizing reactions…

Teachers' ratings of children's constructive coping and attentional control were positively related to boys' social skills and peer status. Children's emotional intensity and their coping behavior that involved acting out were negatively related to girls' and boys' social skills and boys' peer status. Mothers' reports of boys' low emotional…

Examined the relations of preschool and kindergarten children's responses to hypothetical social problem situations expressed through puppet interaction to the children's general social behavior at school, behavior in potential social conflict situations, and temperamental characteristics. Children's enacted friendliness and aggression were…

The results of three studies showed that mothers of preschoolers hold different expectations for children of different heights (especially boys) even when the effects of perceived age are controlled, that boys' size is associated with their logical capacities, and that taller boys and girls are preferred as playmates by male classmates. (KH)

This study examined interrelations among 7- to 11-year-olds' typical emotions, goals, and behavior during peer conflict and the predictive value of emotions and goals for behavior. Findings indicated that children's goal friendliness during peer conflict related to low anger and high sadness intensity. Children reporting nonconstructive behavior…