Five hundred five children (267 female) enrolled in school years 5 and 6 in the UK (M = 9 years and 9 months) completed measures of trust beliefs in peers, best friendships, ascriptions of trustworthiness, and trustworthiness toward peers. Children's social disengagement, peer preference, and peer victimization were assessed by sociometric…

In this study we examined children's self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and outcome values in relation to bystander responses in bullying situations. We proposed that beyond the effect of self-efficacy, the decision to defend the victim of bullying vs. remain passive vs. reinforce the bully depends on outcomes children expect from defending, and…

The purpose of the current study was to test a conceptual model of the mediated and moderated associations among shyness, coping strategies, and socioemotional functioning in middle childhood. Participants were 358 children (177 boys) aged 9-13 years (M = 10.16 years, SD = 0.95). Children completed self-report assessments of shyness, coping style…

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of Thailand adolescents regarding the prevalence of smoking, the popularity of smoking among successful/elite elements of society, and disapproval of smoking by friends and parents. These perceptions were analyzed in conjunction with actual smoking and smoking susceptibility rates among the…

This study examined subtypes of nonsocial play and their relation to psychosocial adjustment in Malaysian preschool children (N = 141, 72 boys, M age = 4.65 years). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a three-factor model that distinguished social reticence, solitary-active play, and solitary-passive play fit the data reasonably well, and…

The goal of this study is twofold: (1) to assess brain anatomical differences between children meeting diagnostic criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and healthy controls, and (2) to investigate whether morphological brain characteristics associated with ODD differ in boys and girls. Eight-year-old participants (N = 38) were scanned…

This study attempted to validate distinctions between popularity and social acceptance in the cultural context of Hong Kong. We recruited 280 Chinese children (132 girls, 148 boys, mean age = 9.5) from Hong Kong primary schools. These children completed a peer nomination inventory assessing popularity, social acceptance, social rejection,…

This study examined the heterotypic continuity of aggression hypothesis (physical to indirect) using independent teacher reports of aggression drawn from a nationally representative sample of 749 Canadian girls and boys. Confirmatory factor analysis using an accelerated longitudinal design confirmed a two-factor model of physical and indirect…

The purpose of the study was to examine the contributions of maternal encouragement of autonomy and maternal encouragement of connectedness to the prediction of children's social behaviors. A sample of children (N = 94), initially aged two years, and their mothers in China participated in the two-year longitudinal study. Child autonomy and…

Despite the recognition of cultural influences on emotional development, very little is known regarding emotion regulation in children from different cultures. This study examined beliefs regarding social acceptability and regulatory behaviors in 80 children (aged five to six years and eight to nine years) from two urban communities (suburban and…

U.S. and Indonesian 9- to 11-year-old children (N = 147) reported on multiple occasions conflicts that they experienced with peers. The precursors of conflict, behavior during conflict episodes, and resolutions were coded. Teacher ratings of aggression and social preference were obtained. The conflicts of children in both countries most often…