The presence and quality of friendships are posited to have developmental significance, yet little is known about the extent to which children without friends versus low-quality friendships compare on socioemotional adjustment. The current study utilized data from a subsample of 567 children (289 boys) participating in the NICHD Study of Early…

This study examined the longitudinal association between contextual stress and health risk behaviors and the role of protective factors in a community epidemiologically-defined sample of urban African American adolescents (N = 500; 46.4% female). Structural equation modeling was used to create a latent variable measuring contextual stress…

The behavioral phenotype of Williams syndrome (WS) is characterized by difficulties with establishment and maintenance of friendships despite high levels of interest in social interaction. Here, parents and teachers rated 84 children with WS ages 4-16 years using two commonly-used measures assessing aspects of social functioning: the Social Skills…

Little is known about the origins of the pointing gesture. We sought to gain insight into its emergence by investigating individual differences in the pointing of 12-month-old infants in two ways. First, we looked at differences in the communicative and interactional uses of pointing and asked how different hand shapes relate to point frequency,…

From an early age, children with visual impairments can be at a disadvantage for developing social skills. Since vision plays a role in the early development of social behaviors and of social cognition, the lack of visual cues could lead to difficulties in initiating and maintaining social interactions. The study presented here investigated…

Objective: Psychiatric mentors are an important part of the new, seamless training program in Singapore. There is a need to assess the qualities of a good psychiatric mentor vis-a-vis those of a good psychiatrist. Method: An anonymous survey was sent out to all psychiatry trainees and psychiatrists in Singapore to assess quantitatively the…

Social skills (cooperation, assertion, and self-control) were assessed by teachers for a longitudinal cohort of (pre)adolescents, with measurements at average ages 11.1 (baseline) and 16.3 years (follow-up). Prospective associations with participants' self-reported use of cannabis, (age of) onset of cannabis use, and frequency of use at follow-up…

The extent to which the socioemotional impairments of Asperger syndrome (AS) might be extreme manifestations of individual differences within the general population remains under-explored. We compared the trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) profiles of 30 individuals with AS against the profiles of 43 group-matched controls using the Trait…

Silencing of a single gene, FMR1, is linked to a highly prevalent form of mental retardation, characterized by social and cognitive impairments, known as fragile X syndrome (FXS). The FMR1 gene encodes fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), which negatively regulates translation. Knockout of Fmr1 in mice results in enhanced long-term…

As the number of children engaging in problem behaviors grows, teachers increasingly report feeling unprepared to effectively meet students' mental health needs. Social-emotional learning (SEL) should be a prominent goal of school programs because social competence prevents school failure. This commentary reviews the challenges associated with…

In this study, the authors examined the relations among clinician ratings of treatment improvement and discrepancies between parent and blinded laboratory rater reports of child social functioning administered before and after treatment for social anxiety disorder. Participants included a clinic sample of 101 children (7-16 years old; M = 11.67,…

This pilot investigation evaluated the effectiveness of siblings as generalisation agents in an 8-week social skills training (SST) program designed for boys with Asperger syndrome (AS). Twenty-one boys aged 8-12 participated in a SST group alone, with a sibling, or remained in a wait-list control group. After training, participants'…

The acquisition of social skills is an essential part of childhood and adolescent development. Due to its critical nature, assessment of appropriate and inappropriate social skills is necessary in order to determine whether or not deficits or excesses exist, thereby guiding treatment. The "Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters"…

The applicability of the Age and Stages Questionnaires: Social Emotional (ASQ-SE; J. Squires, D. Bricker & E. Twombly, 2003) for Turkish children was examined. A total of 608 mothers completed the ASQ-SE's. Overall sensitivity and overall specificity were 83.7% and 89.9%, respectively. Test-retest reliability, assessed by classifying children…

A total of 35 adults (24-77 years; 24 males and 11 females) with Asperger syndrome (AS) who were in, were waiting to get in, or had been in support groups participated in the study. In general, the adults were highly educated but unemployed or underemployed and living alone with family members as friends. The participants were interviewed,…