Preschool teachers' perceptions about relationships with students (teacher-child relationships [TCRs]) predict children's subsequent social competence (SC) and academic progress. Why this is so remains unclear. Do TCRs shape children's development, or do child attributes influence both TCRs and subsequent development? Relations between TCRs and…

Advanced theory-of-mind (AToM) development was investigated in three separate studies involving 82, 466, and 402 elementary school children (8-, 9-, and 10-year-olds). Rasch and factor analyses assessed whether common conceptual development underlies higher-order false-belief understanding, social understanding, emotion recognition, and…

In accord with increasing recognition of the situation specificity of childhood social behaviors, individual and contextual differences in children's responses to potential peer conflict were examined (hostile attribution, behavioral strategies, and affective reactions; N = 367, 9-2 years, 197 girls). Situational cues from 2 sources, the…

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between shyness-sensitivity and social competence, school performance, and psychological well-being in Chinese children with rural and urban backgrounds. Participants were students in rural migrant children schools and city schools in China (Ns = 411 and 518, respectively; M age = 10 years). Data…

A sample of 341 5 1/2-year-old children participating in an ongoing longitudinal study was the focus of a study on the relation between cardiac vagal regulation and peer status. To assess cardiac vagal regulation, resting measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA change (suppression) to 3 cognitively and emotionally challenging tasks…

The effects of remarriage on the parent's and the child's social behavior were studied by comparing 12 children whose biological mothers had remarried, 12 children whose mothers were divorced but had not remarried, and 12 children from intact, father-present families. (Author/RH)

Evaluated whether children view relationally manipulative behaviors as "aggressive." In study one, relational aggression was the most frequently cited angry behavior for girls' interactions; physical aggression was most frequently cited for boys. In study two, relational aggression and verbal insults were the most frequently cited harmful…

Ratings of social behavior and scores on the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI) were obtained for 33,685 infants, eight months of age. A composite measure of sociability correlated .23 with total MDI scores, .26 on the socially loaded items, and .17 with the nonsocial items. (Author/RH)

Examined the role that internalized cognitive representations may play as mediators of the link between family and peer relationships among 161 children age 7 through 12 years. Negative representations of self and others were found to be associated with increased social impairment, including dysfunctional social behavior and less positive status…

During the summer before first grade, 22 boys were videotaped as they attempted to enter a group composed of two unfamiliar boys. Confederates of the experimenter, the unfamiliar boys enacted scripted games and presented several scripted problematic social situations. Subjects' behavior in the setting was used to predict their first-grade…

Forty middle-class mothers and their 12-month-old infants participated in an examination of the extent to which infant sociability and home experiences were correlated with cognitive capacity. (JMB)

Investigated the relation between social status and discourse skills in 54 children of 43-66 months. Liked children were more inclined than disliked children to direct their initiations clearly, speak to both interaction partners, respond contingently to others, acknowledge others, and reinitiate when rejecting.(RJC)

Four-year-old children showing low levels of social behavior in a laboratory play session with unfamiliar peers were classified as reticent (unoccupied or onlooking behaviors) or solitary-passive (solitary constructive or exploratory play). Compared with a group of more social children, the children in both low-social groups were rated high on…

Examined relations of children's regulation and emotionality to their social functioning. Found that resiliency mediated effects of individual differences in attentional regulation on social status and socially appropriate behavior, and that negative emotionality moderated the positive relation between attentional control and resiliency. Also…

This study examined relations among cortisol reactivity and measures of cognitive function and social behavior in 4- to 5-year-old children (N=169) attending Head Start. Saliva samples for the assay of cortisol were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of an approximately 45-min testing session. Moderate increase in cortisol followed by…