Previous findings on the association between theory of mind (ToM) and aggression in children are mixed. The "social skills deficit view" regarded ToM as a "single-edged sword" and proposed that a lack of ToM can lead to aggression, while the "double-edged sword view" proposed that children with advanced ToM can still…

Neighborhood is a key context where children learn to process social information; however, the field has largely overlooked the ways children's individual characteristics might be moderated by neighborhood effects. We examined 1,030 six- to 11-year-olds (48.7% female; 82% White) twin pairs oversampled for neighborhood disadvantage from the Twin…

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%…

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…

Whether kids should be encouraged to play video games remains a topic of debate among many parents, who often entertain some of the myths associated with video game play. The authors review the latest scientific evidence to dispel worries that video game play contributes to obesity, desensitizes players to real-world violence, and causes…

The present study examined relations between Theory of Mind (ToM) understanding and social competence among school-age Latino children. Participants included 62 children ages 6-12 years. Picture vocabulary was assessed via a standardized language survey, and ToM assessed via Happé's [(1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of…

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often carry co-morbid diagnoses and present with impairing heterogeneous symptomatology (Leyfer et al. in "J Autism Dev Disord" 36(7): 849-861, 2006. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0123-0). However, research from controlled laboratory settings often fails to examine the vast number of…

Problem behavior of 52 children with Williams syndrome ages 6 to 17 years old was examined based on both parent and teacher report. Generally good inter-rater agreement was found. Common areas of problem behavior based both on parent and teacher report included attention problems, anxiety difficulties, repetitive behaviors (e.g., obsessions,…

Although social difficulties have been identified as sequelae of children's experiences with interparental conflict and insecurity, little is known about the specific mechanisms underlying their vulnerability to social problems. Guided by emotional security theory, this study tested the hypothesis that children's emotional insecurity mediates…

Longitudinal links between early childhood temperament, maternal sensitivity, and adolescents' adjustment have been proposed and found in several longitudinal studies, but the mechanisms of influence have not been explored. The authors examined the paths from maternal sensitivity and temperament in early childhood to adolescents' prosocial,…

Aggression is a clinically significant problem for many children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, there have been few large-scale studies addressing this issue. The current study examined the prevalence and correlates of physical aggression in a sample of 1584 children and adolescents with ASD enrolled in the Autism…

Children with ADHD symptoms often display social competence deficits, yet mechanisms for their social difficulties remain unclear. Using data from the normative sample of non-intervention respondents (N = 387; 50% male; 49% non-European-American; age at initial assessment: M = 6.5 years, SD = 0.48) in the Fast Track project (Lochman and CPPRG…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect social information processing levels has on the social competence (entering a peer group, response towards provocation, response to failure, response to success, social expectations, teacher expectations, reactive aggression, proactive aggression) and peer relationship (prosocial behaviour,…

The main purpose of the present study was to explore how social competence reduces behavioral problems. Based on previous findings, we assume that increased social competence can be regarded as a mediating factor in reducing behavior problems. All participants (children and adolescents, n = 112) received an intervention intended to increase social…

The primary aims of the current study were to longitudinally examine the direct relationship between children's temperamental surgency and social behaviors as well as the moderating role of children's emotion regulation. A total of 90 4.5-year-old children participated in a laboratory visit where children's temperamental surgency was rated by…