| Abstracts:
October 2001 , Volume 47, Number 4
Frosch,
C. A., Cox, M. J., & Goldman, B. D. (2001). Infant-parent attachment
and parental and child behavior during parent-toddler storybook
interaction. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 47, 445-474.
Abstract:
Longitudinal associations between infant-parent attachment and parental
and toddler behavior during storybook interaction were examined
for 131 lower-middle to middle-class families (70 girls; 61 boys).
At ages 12 and 15 months, infant-mother and infant-father dyads
were videotaped in the laboratory-based Strange Situation procedure
to assess attachment. At 24 months, dyads visited the laboratory
and were videotaped during storybook interaction. Infants with a
history of insecure-resistant attachment with their mothers were
less enthusiastic and focused during storybook interaction. Moreover,
mothers of insecure-resistant infants were less warm and supportive,
more hostile and intrusive, more detached, and less stimulating
of cognitive development than mothers of secure or avoidant infants.
Disorganized attachment did not predict the quality of storybook
interaction and few attachment-related differences were found when
the toddler-father dyad was considered.
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Strough, J., Swenson, L. M., & Cheng, S.
(2001). Friendship, gender, and preadolescents' representations of
peer collaboration. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 47, 475-499.
Abstract:
The experience of collaboration from preadolescents' perspectives
was examined as a function of dyad gender and degree of friendship.
Sixth graders (11-13 years, mostly White and middle class) worked
within same- and other-gender dyads (18 girl, 17 boy, 17 mixed-gender)
of varying degrees of friendship on a 4-week-long creative writing
task at school. Enjoyment expectations and affiliation perceptions
were greater in dyads with greater degrees of friendship, and in same-gender
dyads as compared with mixed-gender dyads. More positive enjoyment
expectations and greater perceived affiliation, agreement, and influence
were related to better task performance. Implications of these results
for understanding the social context of collaboration from peer partners'
perspectives and successful classroom collaborations are discussed.
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Fletcher, A. C, Newsome, D., Nickerson, P.,
& Bazley, R. (2001). Social network closure and child adjustment.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 47, 500-531.
Abstract:
Fourth-grade children's peer groups were identified using the Social
Cognitive Mapping (SCM) procedure. Children (N = 143) and caregivers
then participated in interviews in which they provided information
used to construct a measure of social network (intergenerational)
closure, defined as the extent to which meaningful social relationships
existed between children and their friends' parents and among parents
whose children were friends. Higher levels of social network closure
were linked with higher achievement test scores and lower levels of
parent-reported externalizing behavior. Among European American children
only, higher levels of social network closure also were linked with
higher levels of teacher-rated social competence. Higher levels of
closure were associated with more externalizing behavior (as reported
by parents and teachers) among African American children, but less
externalizing behavior among European American children. Negative
associations between closure and internalizing behaviors were strongest
among girls who were bused from a different neighborhood to attend
the target school. Return
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Barriga, A. Q, Morrison, E. M., Liau, A. K.,
& Gibbs, J. C. (2001). Moral cognition: Explaining the gender
difference in antisocial behavior. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 47, 532-562.
Abstract:
Males' greater propensity for antisocial (i.e., externalizing) behavior
has been well documented. Because males and females generally have
evidenced negligible differences in moral judgment stage, we investigated
whether the gender discrepancy in antisocial behavior might be attributable
to gender differences in other moral cognitive variables, specifically,
moral self-relevance and self-serving cognitive distortion. The sample
included 88 male and 105 female college students aged 16 to 19 years.
In multiple regression analyses, moral judgment and moral self-relevance
correlated negatively, and self-serving cognitive distortion correlated
positively with antisocial behavior. Path analysis revealed that mature
moral judgment and higher moral self-relevance were associated with
lower levels of self-serving cognitive distortion, which partially
mediated the relationship between those variables and antisocial behavior.
Relationships among the moral cognitive variables and antisocial behavior
did not vary by gender. Although the genders did not differ in moral
judgment stage, females evidenced greater moral self-relevance, less
self-serving cognitive distortion, and less antisocial behavior. The
implications of these findings for moral developmental theory and
the treatment of antisocial behavior are discussed. Return
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Johnston, K. E., Bittinger, K., Smith, A.,
& Madole, K. L. (2001). Developmental changes in infants' and
toddlers' attention to gender categories. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly,
47, 563+.
Abstract:
Three studies examined the emergence of attention to gender categories,
which may be a mediating step between gender category recognition
and gender stereotype formation. Experiment 1 examined 18-month-olds'
attention to gender categories using a sequential touching task. Results
suggested that 18-month-olds showed little attention to gender. Experiment
2 was conducted to rule out the possibility that infants could not
discriminate the dolls by gender. Experiment 3 investigated developmental
changes in attention to gender categories from 18 to 30 months of
age. A sharp increase in attention to gender was found between 18
and 22 months. The distinction between recognition of and attention
to gender categories and the implications of these findings for understanding
stereotype formation are discussed.
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