The authors investigated 8 specific forms of social aggression (SA) in terms of the functions they serve, the characteristics of the peers targeted by them, and the outcomes associated with using the behaviors. Two hundred and seventeen fifth- and seventh-grade boys and girls completed a structured daily diary for 5 consecutive days in their…

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between mother-child attachment and social initiative and withdrawal in Chinese urban children. Participants were 487 school-aged children (247 boys, 240 girls) in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China. Data on mother-child attachment styles were collected from children's self-reports.…

Children's expression and regulation of emotions are building blocks of their experiences in classrooms. Thus, the authors' primary goal was to investigate whether preschoolers' expression or ability to regulate emotions were associated with teachers' ratings of school adjustment. A secondary goal was to investigate how boys and girls differed…

Relatively little is understood about the role of hostile attributions in children's use of relational aggression with peers, or about the impact of family processes on children's attributions about ambiguous provocations. This cross-sectional study investigated associations among hostile attributions made by children, mothers, and fathers, and…

The authors used two studies involving 5th- and 6th-grade children to examine factors potentially associated with individual differences in children's perceptions of and anticipated responses to ambiguous teases. Study 1 assessed the extent to which the children would expect recipients to feel hurt in response to a series of ambiguous teases and…

Social-emotional behavior of 352 3- and 4-year-olds attending private childcare and Head Start programs was observed using the Minnesota Preschool Affect Checklist, Revised (MPAC-R). Goals of the investigation included (a) using MPAC-R data to extract a shortened version, MPAC-R/S, comparing structure, internal consistency, test-retest…

The authors conducted a study with 500 parent-child dyads. The sample comprised 254 boys and 246 girls. The children were grouped into 5 age groups (1 group for each age from 7 to 11 years), with each group comprising 100 children. The survey regards discrepancies between children and their parents on attitudes toward TV advertising to determine…

Investigated whether children who interact effectively with peers are better able to decenter (take anothers' point of view) in interpersonal areas than children whose peer interactions are less effective. (DP)

Reports a study examining the relation between the toddler's social initiative in relation to his mother and his initiative in exploring the physical environment, and the effect of different maternal behaviors on these two realms. (BD/BR)

Purpose of this research was to develop an observational category system useful for studies of human peer-social behavior in the preschool period. (Authors)

This study tested the hypothesis that objective and subjective responsibility responses in moral judgment may be formally equal forms of cognitive organization. Results showed that subjects acting as offenders gave subjective responsibility responses; the same subjects acting as offended gave objective responsibility responses. Thus, subjects'…

A total of 18 male and 16 female preschoolers were assessed on observational measures of social interaction and communicative egocentrism. The results indicated negative relationships between the egocentric speech of the child and the incidence of peer interaction. (MS)

Evaluated the importance of social comparison processes in sibling and peer interaction. Experiment I assessed the influence of social comparison on male children during mother-sibling interaction and subsequent peer interaction. Experiment II assessed the influence of social comparison during peer interaction on female children's subsequent…