The goal of the current study was to investigate whether children's social information processing (SIP) predicts their conversations with peers, including both their remarks to peers and peers' remarks to them. When children (N = 156; 55% male; United States; Representation by Race: 60% African American, 18% Mixed race, 15% European American, 7%…

In this study, we identified (1) subgroups of youth during middle childhood who displayed distinct profiles of social emotional learning (SEL) skills including cooperation, prosocial behaviors, work habits, emotion regulation, and self-control; and (2) how these profiles predict longitudinal academic and social functioning during early…

Prosocial teasing is the positive playful form of relational aggression, and studies have found children engage in playful teasing more often than aggressive teasing. Therefore, understanding the basic characteristics or skills that contribute to the more complex social skill of prosocial teasing is important. The current study focused on the role…

Objective: The present study examined the antecedents and consequences of perceived parental autonomy support and psychological control. More specifically, we had three aims: a) to investigate the associations between parents' expectations and beliefs about parenting and perceived parental autonomy support and psychological control; b) to analyse…

Alexithymia refers to an ineffectiveness in identifying feelings and emotions and their communication. In adolescence, it has been identified as a significant predictor of emotional dysregulation, depression, anxiety, especially in girls, and it is generally associated with higher levels of physical and verbal aggression. We investigated the…

The moment a child walks into a new classroom, teachers and classmates form an impression based on minimal information. Yet, little is known about the accuracy of such impressions when it concerns children's social functioning at school. The current study examined the accuracy of children's, teachers' and adults' impressions of 18 unacquainted…

In this study, we wished to examine the potential relationships between the skills measured by an individually administered standardized measure of cognitive ability and a self-report measure of indirect bullying, overt aggression, and prosocial skills. Therefore, a sample of 106 female students were recruited from a private, faith-based…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether language skills can predict teacher reports of social skills (empathy and assertion) and social behavior (prosocialness, aggression, and victimization) in preschool children. Relationships among social skills and behaviors were also examined. Ninety-eight preschool children were administered…

A latent profile analysis was applied to explore heterogeneity in the social and classroom behaviors of 224 peer-rejected elementary school students (56% White, 68% male, Grades 1-4, M[subscript age] = 8.1 years). Profile indicators included teacher ratings of social skills and problem behaviors on the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) and…

A latent profile analysis was applied to explore heterogeneity in the social and classroom behaviors of 224 peer-rejected elementary school students (56% White, 68% male, Grades 1-4, M age = 8.1 years). Profile indicators included teacher ratings of social skills and problem behaviors on the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) and peer…

This quasi-experimental study compared children who were (or were not) exposed to a 28-week program designed to prevent aggressive behavior by teaching pro-social skills and social knowledge. Children in the experimental group increased significantly in teacher-ratings of cooperation, assertion, self-control, and total social skills, as well as in…

Neuroscientific advances and child development studies show 0-6 years represents a sensitive period for the development of emotional competence--the ability to identify, understand, express and regulate emotion, all foundational to self-regulation. Research suggests optimum teaching of emotional competence and self-regulation skills from birth is…

Past research has shown that, while psychological control increases the risk for adolescents' antisocial behavior, maternal knowledge of adolescents' activities decreases this risk. Yet, research is somewhat inconclusive about the role of psychologically controlling parenting in parental knowledge. Also, the role of both predictors in prosocial…

This study examined the friendship processes around prosocial and aggressive behaviors and the moderating role of early adolescents' perceived relatedness with teachers. Differences between fifth graders in elementary school and sixth graders in middle school were examined. The sample was from 48 classrooms (N = 879, 51% girls at Wave 1, N = 859,…

Research has documented various family and individual risk factors associated with severe conduct problems, but little is known about the developmental origins of children who engage in both aggressive and prosocial interactions with others. The present study utilized growth-mixture modeling to identify distinct trajectories of physical aggression…