Attachment, Temperament, and Preschool Children's Peer Acceptance

Not in education, employment and training: pathways from toddler difficult temperament

BACKGROUND

Youths disengaged from the education system and labour force (i.e. 'Not in Education, Employment, or Training' or 'NEET') are often at reduced capacity to flourish and thrive as adults. Developmental precursors to NEET status may extend back to temperamental features, though this - and possible mediators of such associations such as attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and antisocial behaviours (ASB) - have yet to be directly tested. This study investigates if i) difficult temperament in toddlerhood associates with NEET status in adulthood and ii) different subdomains of ADHD (i.e. hyperactivity-impulsivity vs. inattention) in late childhood and ASB in adolescence partially explain this pathway.

METHODS

Participants were 6,240 mother-child dyads (60.7% female) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Mothers reported on their child's (a) difficult temperament (i.e. mood, intensity and adaptability) at age 2 and (b) ADHD symptoms at ages 8 and 10. Participants reported their own ASB at age 14 and NEET status in adulthood (ages 18, 20, 22 and 23).

RESULTS

First, higher levels of difficult temperament in toddlerhood directly associated with an increased probability of being NEET in adulthood. Second, this effect was carried through hyperactivity-impulsivity, but not inattention, in late childhood, and ASB in adolescence; this demonstrates differential contribution to the pathway between the ADHD dimensions, with symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity playing a prominent role.

CONCLUSIONS

Early difficult temperament is a vulnerability factor for NEET status in adulthood. Our findings suggest that one developmental pathway for this vulnerability manifests through increased hyperactivity-impulsivity in childhood and ASB in adolescence. Of note, difficult temperament, as measured here, reflects difficulties in emotional and behavioural self-control (e.g. low adaptability and high intensity negative emotional expressions). Our results, therefore, suggest a prominent developmental role for lack of self-control from toddlerhood onwards in increasing risk for NEET.

Developing a Peer Relationship Scale for Adolescents: a validity and reliability study

BACKGROUND

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable tool to measure adolescents' peer relationships.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

The research was carried out with 543 adolescents aged 11-18 studying in secondary schools and high schools. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the construct validity of the scale. Based on the results of the exploratory factor analysis, a structure consisting of four sub-dimensions and 29 items was obtained. The sub-dimensions of the scale are named as intimacy, popularity, trust, and insightfulness.

RESULTS

As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis, the model fit indices were found to have a good fit. Significant relationships were found with the Peer Support Scale and the Stirling Children's Well-being Scale during the analysis of the scale's criterion validity. Cronbach's α internal consistency, split half reliability, and the test-retest method were used to assess the reliability of the scale. Cronbach's α internal consistency coefficient for the total score was found to be .93, the split-half reliability was .85, and the test-retest reliability value was .82.

CONCLUSIONS

It can be inferred that the scale, which was developed based on the results obtained from validity and reliability studies, is a measurement tool that can be used in studies involving adolescents studying at the level of secondary and high school.

The Effects of Father’s Warm Parenting Behavior on Children’s Academic Achievement and School Adjustment During The Transition to Elementary School: The Mediating Role of Children’s Peer Play Behavior

Objectives: Children’s "Play" plays a central role in their development, and a father’s participation in raising children is as important as a mother's. This study examined the extent to which fathers’ parenting behavior with their preschool children influenced their academic achievement and school adjustment through children’s’ peer play behavior during the period of transition to elementary school.Methods: Using the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC), the present study included data on a total of 1,526 children and their father from 2013 (Time 6) to 2015 (Time 8). The hypothesized model was analyzed using structural equation modeling in Mplus 7.31.Results: Findings indicated that warmth of father’s parenting behavior at age five positively influenced children’s peer play behavior at age six, increasing interaction and reducing disconnection. It also influenced children’s school adjustment at age seven. Results indicated that the effects of the role of father’s warm parenting behavior on children’s academic achievement and school adjustment were mediated through peer play behavior. These results suggest the importance of father’s warm parenting behavior and children’s peer play behavior for their academic achievement and school adjustment during the transition to elementary school.Conclusion: These findings support the proposition that fostering a father’s parental warmth and encouraging children’s peer play would be a fruitful avenue to promote academic achievement and school adjustment during the transition to elementary school. In other words, this study explains the continuity of development from infancy to early school age and verifies that fathers’ parental warmth and children’s peer play in infancy are not limited to infancy through a series of long-term developmental pathways. Therefore, to improve school adaptation that affects social and cognitive development after entering elementary school, measures should be presented to support children’s play, and to support fathers’ warm parenting behavior in the future.

How to Dax? Preschool Children's Prosocial Behavior, But Not Their Social Norm Enforcement Relates to Their Peer Status

The current study examined correlates of preschool children's (n = 82) peer status. In particular, we assessed children's prosocial behavior, social problem behavior, norm enforcement, language abilities, and temperament. Children's prosocial behavior, pragmatic language abilities, and gender correlated with peer status. A regression analysis revealed that prosocial behavior and gender were independent predictors. There was some evidence for a mediation effect: The link between pragmatic language and peer status was mediated by prosocial behavior. Children's norm enforcement was not related to peer status, neither was it related to any other factor such as temperament or language. Overall, the study supports approaches claiming that prosocial behavior plays a role in children's social functioning and are in line with social-interactionist accounts to social and social-cognitive development.

The relationships between shyness and unsociability and peer difficulties

The main purpose of the study was to examine the moderating role of the insecure mother–child attachment in the relations between social withdraw and peer difficulties. Participants were 487 urban children (247 boys, 240 girls) in elementary schools in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China. Data on attachment-relevant coping styles in insecure relationships with mother were collected from children’s self-reports. Information concerning social withdrawal (i.e., shyness and unsociability) and peer difficulties (i.e., peer victimization and rejection) was obtained from peer nomination. Among the results, both shyness and unsociability were positively related to peer victimization and rejection. However, several interaction effects were also observed. Both avoidant and ambivalent attachment served an exacerbating role for peer difficulties for shy and unsociable children, with these patterns differing by gender. Implications for the contributions of attachment to socially withdrawn children’s peer adjustment are discussed.

The significance of attachment security for children's social competence with peers: a meta-analytic study

This meta-analytic review examines the association between attachment during the early life course and social competence with peers during childhood, and compares the strength of this association with those for externalizing and internalizing symptomatology. Based on 80 independent samples (N = 4441), the association between security and peer competence was significant (d = 0.39, CI 0.32; 0.47) and not moderated by the age at which peer competence was assessed. Avoidance (d = 0.17, CI 0.05; 0.30), resistance (d = 0.29, CI 0.09; 0.48), and disorganization (d = 0.25, CI 0.10; 0.40) were significantly associated with lower peer competence. Attachment security was significantly more strongly associated with peer competence than internalizing (but not externalizing) symptomatology. Discussion focuses on the significance of early attachment for the development of peer competence versus externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.

Maternal and adolescent temperament as predictors of maternal affective behavior during mother-adolescent interactions

This study examined maternal and early adolescent temperament dimensions as predictors of maternal emotional behavior during mother-adolescent interactions. The sample comprised 151 early adolescents (aged 11-13) and their mothers (aged 29-57). Adolescent- and mother-reports of adolescent temperament and self-reports of maternal temperament were collected. Mother-adolescent dyads participated in event-planning and problem-solving interactions, which were coded for frequency of aggressive, dysphoric, and positive interpersonal maternal behavior. Analyses indicated that adolescents who are higher in temperamental Negative Affectivity and lower in Effortful Control are generally exposed to more frequent aggressive and less frequent positive interpersonal maternal behavior. Furthermore, mothers lower in Effortful Control engaged in more frequent dysphoric behavior toward their adolescent. Given the associations between parental emotional behavior and the development of adolescent emotion regulation, these findings suggest that temperamental dispositions, particularly of early adolescents, may influence their ongoing socialization of emotion regulation skills, and thus their emotional well being.

Peer responses to stuttering in the preschool setting

PURPOSE

This study investigated peer responses to preschoolers' stuttering in preschool and sought to determine whether specific characteristics of participants' stuttering patterns elicited negative peer responses.

METHOD

Four outdoor free-play sessions of 4 preschoolers age 3-4 years who stutter were videotaped. Stutters were identified on transcripts of the play sessions. Peer responses to stuttered utterances were judged to be negative or neutral/positive. Thereafter, participants' stuttering behaviors, durations of stutters, and judgments of the meaningfulness of peer-directed stuttered utterances were analyzed.

RESULTS

Between 71.4% and 100% of peer responses were judged to be neutral/positive. In the negative responses across 3 participants, peers were observed to react with confusion or to interrupt, mock, walk away from, or ignore the stuttered utterances. Utterances that elicited negative responses were typically meaningless and contained stutters that were behaviorally complex and/or of longer duration. Other social interaction difficulties also were observed-for example, difficulty leading peers in play, participating in pretend play, and resolving conflicts.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate that the majority of peer responses to stuttered utterances were neutral/positive; however, results also indicate that stuttering has the potential to elicit negative peer responses and affect other social interactions in preschool.

Temperament, ADHD and peer relations among schoolchildren: the mediating role of school bullying

The goal of the study is to investigate the link between temperament, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, social preference, bullying and victimization. The study sample consisted of 195 children attending the fourth and fifth grade (age 8-10), their mothers and their teachers. A multiinformant approach was used: mothers were interviewed about the temperament of their children; teachers were asked about ADHD symptoms; children responded to a peer nominations inventory designed to investigate their roles as bullies and/or victims and their social preferences (liked and disliked peers). A Structural Equation Model multigroup analysis (males and females) was used to test the relationships among variables hypothesized by the authors. The analysis showed that temperamental variables have a direct relation to ADHD symptoms, that ADHD has a direct relation to bullying behavior in males and to victimization in females and that bullies and victims are less well accepted than peers who belong to neither category. ADHD has only an indirect relation to social preference through the mediating role of school bullying.