Psychology, Developmental

The goal of this study was to test the gender self-socialization model (GSSM). This
model suggests that gender identity motivates children to strive for cognitive consistency
between their gender stereotypes and their self-efficacy for those stereotypes. This study
presents a novel approach to stereotype assessment by focusing on children's
idiosyncratic stereotypes (as opposed to number of commonly shared stereotypes, which
do not provide detailed information about the types of stereotypes individual children
hold). Participants were 305 children in grades three through eight (Mage = 10.8 years).
Independent variables included children's stereotypes of 62 contextually tagged
behaviors and gender identity (comprising five dimensions). Interactive influences of
children's stereotypes and gender identity on self-efficacy were investigated. As
expected, stereotypes and gender identity worked together to predict children's self-efficacy perception for the 62 behaviors. These findings suggest that the role of gender
identity is important in the adoption of personally held gender stereotypes.

Possible contributions of child temperamental styles and maternal parenting behaviors to the prediction of victimization in the peer group were examined. 106 middle-class boys and girls in the 4th through 7th grades and their mothers participated in the study. Children reported on the parenting behavior of their mothers, male and female same grade classmates nominated subjects on victimization and other social behaviors, and mothers of the children reported on their child's temperament. Results indicated no moderator or mediator roles, for child temperament or maternal parenting, in the prediction of victimization. However, for boys, maternal overprotective parenting was associated with peer victimization. Maternal overprotectiveness also predicted boys' internalizing problems among peers. For girls, maternal hostility was associated with peer victimization and internalizing problems. For both sexes, hostile parenting predicted externalizing problems in the peer group. An impulsive temperamental style also predicted externalizing problems for both sexes. A unifying theory explaining gender differences in the relation between maternal behaviors and peer victimization was given. Suggestions for future research were also advanced.

The present study examined the relation between parenting practices and adolescent ethnic identity, behavior problems, and academic achievement. Four hundred and sixty-nine adolescents completed questionnaires assessing perceptions of parenting, ethnic identity, and social adjustment. Grades and achievement scores were obtained from participating schools. The study addressed four aims: (1) Examine the relation between parenting practices and adolescent outcomes; (2) Examine the relation between parenting practices and ethnic identity; (3) Examine the relation between ethnic identity and adolescent outcomes; and (4) Explore whether these associations vary across ethnic groups. It was hypothesized that parenting practices would influence adolescent outcomes similarly regardless of ethnicity. Specifically, it was hypothesized that parental involvement, autonomy granting, and strictness/supervision would be associated with fewer behavior problems and higher school grades for African Americans, Anglo Americans, and Cuban Americans. Additionally, it was expected that parental strictness/supervision, autonomy granting, and involvement would predict ethnic identity for African Americans and Cuban Americans, but not Anglo Americans. Finally, it was expected that ethnic identity would be associated with outcomes for African Americans and Cuban Americans, but not Anglo Americans. The findings revealed that parenting practices were associated with adolescent outcomes for African Americans, Anglo Americans, and Cuban Americans. For African Americans, strict parenting was negatively related to behavior problems, but unrelated to academic achievement. Parental autonomy granting was negatively related to behavior problems. For Anglo Americans and Cuban Americans, parental strictness/supervision, autonomy granting, and involvement were negatively related to behavior problems. Parental autonomy granting and strictness/supervision were positively related to academic achievement for Anglo Americans, but unrelated to academic achievement among Cuban Americans. Parenting practices predicted ethnic identity for Cuban Americans, but not African Americans or Anglo Americans. Ethnic identity was related to behavior problems for African Americans, but it was unrelated to Cuban American and Anglo American adolescent outcomes. The findings from this study provide insight into the unique contribution of parenting practices and ethnic identity to adolescent behavior problems and academic achievement. As expected, parenting practices were associated with adolescent outcomes, and similarities rather than differences characterized these associations in the three ethnic groups. Ethnic identity was related to adolescent outcomes with variations as a function of ethnicity. A central focus of this study was to distinguish parenting practices from parenting styles. This distinction is key when attempting to identify specific parental behaviors that contribute to adolescent adaptation. Changing demographics underscore the need for continued study of how parenting practices and ethnic identity influence adaptation among adolescents from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Source monitoring capabilities in children four, five, and six years of age classified along high and low inhibition abilities were investigated in three different conditions of source monitoring: reality monitoring, internal source monitoring, and external source monitoring. Specifically, children's misattribution errors in internal and reality source monitoring conditions with regard to their inhibition status was investigated. During one testing session, children were randomly assigned to the three source monitoring conditions and invited to participate in puzzle completion tasks. In the reality source monitoring condition, children and experimenters took turns placing the puzzle pieces on a puzzle board. In the internal source monitoring condition, children were requested to actually place half of the puzzle pieces of their choice and to pretend to place the other half on the board. In the external source monitoring condition, children were requested to watch two different experimenters taking turns placing puzzle pieces on the board. After a short retention interval, children were surprised with a puzzle piece recall test. Children's inhibition abilities were assessed with three different inhibition tasks during a subsequent testing session and consisted of a tapping test, Simon Says test, and response compatibility test. Median splits determined children's inhibition abilities as either high (efficient) or low (inefficient). Sets of analysis of variance tests compared participants' general recall performance abilities among the three conditions of source monitoring and evaluated participants' reality and internal performance abilities with regard to inhibition status. The first set of analyses indicated that children made the most recall errors in the external source monitoring condition and the fewest in the reality source monitoring condition. The second set of analyses revealed that 4-year-old boys, compared to 5- and 6-year-old boys, committed more errors toward the misattribution bias in the internal condition, while 4-year-old girls, compared to 5- and 6-year-old girls, committed more errors against the bias. The third set of analyses supported the hypothesis that inefficient inhibitors on the tapping task committed more errors toward the misattribution bias in the internal source monitoring condition than those in the reality condition.

The purpose of the present study was to explore several questions about the relationship between well-being and social interaction in a sample of older adults. The primary question involved the relationship between three components of well-being--life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect--and quality and quantity of social interaction. It was found that social interaction variables correlated differently with affective and cognitive components of well-being, with quality of social interaction being associated with higher life satisfaction, and social quantity of interaction being associated with higher positive affect. These relationships were stronger for interactions with friends than for interactions with family members. Quality of social interaction with spouse was also related to well-being.

Social context effects on young children's sex-typing were examined in two studies. In Study 1 sex-typed toy choices of 139 children aged 4 to 8 were assessed first for a solitary-play context, and then for three social contexts distinguished as to friendship status of a specified play partner (represented by a photo): best friend, acquaintance, and an unfamiliar peer. For each context, children selected preferred toys from photographs of a neutral toy paired with either a same- or opposite-sex toy. Results indicated social context effects for girls but not boys, in that girls tended to display more sex-typed toy choices in the solitary and best-friend than in the acquaintance or unfamiliar peer contexts. In general, however, girls approached same-sex toys less than boys, while both sexes avoided opposite-sex toys to a similar extent. In Study 2 subjects were 68 children aged 4 to 7. They were asked to imitate videotaped masculine, feminine, and neutral actions of a hand puppet. For different children, the puppet was designated (by name and photo display) as either a best friend or acquaintance, and it engaged in the sex-typed activities with either gender-congruent or incongruent affect (happy for same-sex actions and sad for opposite-sex actions, or the reverse). Friendship status and gender-affect congruency effects which varied with age level were evident for several memory measures. Incongruency promoted accurate imitative matching for the acquaintance context in younger children, and for the best-friend context in older children. In addition, best-friends' feminine actions were imitated more accurately than their masculine or neutral actions. Subject age and sex also interacted with activity gender type and gender-affect congruency to influence peer affect recall, with poorer recall of feminine-activity affect by boys in the incongruent condition. While social context had little impact upon boys' reported affect, girls' enjoyment was lower for masculine activity imitation in the best-friend congruent-affect condition. Overall, the two studies demonstrate that young children's gendered behaviors show considerable sensitivity to social context factors, and indicate the important influence of affective factors in early sex-typing.

This dissertation involved two studies The first evaluated the hypothesis that the behavior problems which place children at risk for victimization by peers are likely to lead to victimization primarily when children are also at "social risk" for victimization. Social risk was defined as lacking supportive friends or as being rejected by the peer group. Subjects were 229 boys and girls in the third through seventh grades (M age = 11.2 years). Sociometric and peer nomination instruments were used to measure behavior problems, friendship variables, peer rejection, and victimization. As predicted, behavior problems (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and physical weakness) related more strongly to victimization when children had few friends, had friends who were incapable of fulfilling a protective function (e.g., were physically weak), or were rejected by peers than when children had more friends, had friends capable of defending them, or were better liked by peers. Results support the theory that social risk conditions invite and permit abuse of vulnerable children. Study 2 was a one-year longitudinal investigation designed to evaluate whether the behavioral and social problems that characterize victimized children are antecedents of victimization, consequences of victimization, or both. To examine these issues, 173 children from Study 1 were assessed one year later on the same variables that were measured in Study 1. Results provide information about both the antecedents and the outcomes of victimization.

Kindergartners, grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 children, and adult college students participated in a two-year longitudinal study of eyewitness memory, recall, and suggestibility with one- and two-year assessment periods additionally, kindergartners and adults participated in a short-term repeated trials free recall study. Delays varied from a few minutes (in the short-term repeated free recall trial) to two years in the longitudinal study. Subjects were asked free-recall (open ended), unbiased cued recall, and specifically suggestive (leading) questions about the event they had observed as well as their involvement in the experiment at the initial phase one or two years before. Longer delays resulted in lower levels of correct free recall which varied positively with age. Levels of incorrect free recall were at floor for all trials. With longer delays, unbiased cued-recall questions resulted in higher levels of incorrect responses. Differential levels of correct free recall were found for different categories of items, with the central (most legally important) items being recalled correctly by all age groups more often than the less central items. Kindergarten and second grade children were the most influenced by leading questions and were found to be most influenced by the type question (correctly or incorrectly suggestive) posed first. Responses by kindergartners to later questions about the same items were influenced by the leading nature of the initial question with kindergarten and second grade children responding incorrectly to the follow-up questions based upon their answers to the initial questions. The order of presentation effect was enhanced for questions suggesting incorrect responses. The longer delays diminished the age effects of leading questions between the older children and adults. Examination of short-term delay repeated recall trials disclosed that adults produced higher percentages of correct free recall with each subsequent trial, while the kindergarten children did not. Collapsed across grade, subjects who increased their levels of correct free recall following their unbiased cued-recall trial generally remained at that higher level for the remaining free-recall trials. Small hypermnesia effects were found for certain treatment groups. Results are discussed in terms of information processing and fuzzy-trace theories.

This experiment examined the impact of knowledge base and declarative metamemory knowledge on the acquisition of a reading comprehension strategy. Fourth- and fifth-grade boys who were poor readers were tested for their baseball knowledge and declarative metamemory knowledge. Those boys who were designated as baseball experts were included in the experiment. The boys were pretested for strategy use and comprehension, received two days of training in the use of the strategy, and then were later tested twice: once within 3 days of training, then again 2-3 weeks later. The boys were divided into four groups. The T-BB (training, baseball stories) group received training in the use of the strategy using baseball stories. The T-NB (training, nonbaseball) group received equivalent training but used nonbaseball sports stories. Two control groups received equal time with the experimenter and equal reading practice with either baseball or nonbaseball stories, but were not taught the strategy. Because there were no differences in the level of strategy use or comprehension of the two control groups they were later combined into one control group. The target strategy was the asking of "why" questions in response to facts in the text. The asking of "why" questions has been hypothesized to activate relevant schema which are then used to facilitate the memorization of new material. Poor readers often do not utilize their existing knowledge to process new information. Children who received training with baseball stories (T-BB) demonstrated greater strategy acquisition than both other groups when tested both 2-3 days later (near posttest), and also when tested 2-3 weeks later (distant posttest). Group membership (T-BB, T-NB, or Control) did not impact free or cued recall. Declarative metacognitive knowledge impacted strategy acquisition and recall. Higher-metacognitive children asked more "why" questions than did lower-metacognitive children, demonstrated greater free recall, and were more likely to benefit from the strategy training in terms of cued recall. An unexpected finding was that children in the T-BB group asked more "why" questions in response to nonbaseball rather than baseball stories. This was discussed in terms of an appropriate increase of monitoring by the children who were trained within their area of expertise. Overall, children recalled more of the baseball than the nonbaseball stories. While both training groups had significant correlations between strategy use and free recall at the distant posttest, indicating a recall benefit associated with strategy use, only T-BB children had significant correlations at the near posttest.

Four experiments were conducted to examine developmental differences in inhibitory processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated increasing inhibitory efficiency with age in a Stroop-type task. First graders did not show a significant inhibition effect, which was shown by all older groups. With age, greater proportional decrements in response latency were found for Stroop tasks with an inhibition component than for a standard Stroop task. Experiment 2 contrasted cued-recall performance on an unrelated list with performance on a list of scrambled high-associate pairs. Kindergartners, second and fourth graders recalled less than adults, and more of their total output during recall was composed of inappropriate intrusions. Examination of interitem response latencies revealed that kindergartners' processing did not differentiate between inappropriate intrusions and correct responses, whereas older subjects distinguished between correct responses and all errors. In Experiment 3, subjects were read lists of words, were told to forget some of the words, and then were unexpectedly asked to recall the to-be-forgotten words. Adults and fifth graders who were told to forget were able to inhibit the pre-cue items, although the words were available in a recognition task. First graders were not able to inhibit activations of pre-cue items, and they did not show the standard directed-forgetting patterns of performance. Patterns of inhibition for third grade children fell between that of first and fifth graders. In Experiment 4, an intentional/incidental contrast was added to the directed-forgetting paradigm. This experiment replicated earlier work, finding directed-forgetting effects for both incidentally and intentionally learned words. Developmental changes in performance replicated those of Experiment 3. Latencies between consecutively recalled words were also examined. Subjects who were not told to forget words showed a processing advantage, in terms of faster latencies, for primacy items. When subjects were given the forget cue, their processing was slightly quicker for second list half items. In general, results were consistent with the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, suggesting that inhibitory processing becomes more efficient over the elementary school years. Implications for the limited mental resources model, and the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, were discussed.