International Journal of Behavioral Development最新文献

There is an accumulating literature base applying person-centered analytic techniques to examinations of temperament, but existing literature varies in the developmental period assessed, type of person-centered analysis conducted, and type of assessment method that is used. This scoping review aims to clarify what common subtypes are revealed from such techniques within infancy and early childhood and focuses on sources of variation in subtypes based on abovementioned factors. Observations from our review identify common temperamental themes across developmental periods, as well as specific traits that differentiate subtypes. Further, stability of subtypes across development is discussed, and key features of theory and analytic approaches are identified as potential differentiating factors. Observations elucidate what person-centered techniques reveal about similar and dissimilar themes of temperament across infancy and early childhood.

Deviations in reward anticipation and response are associated with internalizing and externalizing disorders. However, relationships between different types of reward motivations and psychopathology have been less explored. We examine how preferences for absolute (gaining points) and relative (gaining more points than others) rewards relate to psychopathological symptoms in middle childhood. A community sample (N=133 6-9-year-olds) was assessed for child characteristics (gender, age, resource deprivation) and psychiatric symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist dimensional subscales: depression, anxiety, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Conduct Disorder (CD)). Children completed a behavioral economic game, selecting equal or unequal point splits for themselves and another player. Each round offered one of four unequal point splits: absolute rewards (more overall points), relative rewards (more points than another player), both, or neither. Multilevel binary logistic regressions found that depression was associated with an increased preference for gaining more points than the other player (t=1.986, p=.047), anxiety was associated with a reduced preference for maximizing points (t=-3.259, p=.001) and gaining more points than the other player (t=-3.148, p=.002), and ADHD was associated with an increased preference for maximizing points regardless of what the other player received (t=2.392, p=.017). Our results suggest depression, anxiety, and ADHD may differentially influence the types of rewards children find motivating and choose to pursue. Future work should explore the impact of integrating these preferences into treatment to reduce pediatric psychopathology.

Best friends differ from other friends in terms of their perceived quality, but much is unknown about features that set them apart. The present study examines the stability and reciprocity of friend nominations as a function of their rank. Participants included 580 (312 girls, 268 boys) public primary- and middle-school students (ages 9-13) in Florida (U.S.) and Lithuania. Twice during a single academic year, participants nominated and rank-ordered friends from a roster of classmates. Stable friend nominees (i.e., nominated as a friend in the fall and the spring) and reciprocated friend nominees (i.e., friend nominations returned by the target) were ranked higher than unstable and unreciprocated nominees. Among those making 5 (the median) nominations at the outset, 1^st and 2^nd ranked friends were more stable and more likely to be reciprocated than 4^th and 5^th ranked friends. Similar results emerged among those making fewer friend nominations. Results did not differ across locations, underscoring the assertion that best friends ought not be equated with other friends in empirical studies of friendship.

Grandmothers are influential caregivers for young children, yet their contributions to child development remains understudied. This study characterized trajectories of grandmother caregiving from infancy to two years and examined their associations with child development. Data came from a longitudinal birth cohort study in rural Pakistan (n=959). Grandmother caregiving behaviors were maternally reported at three months, one, and two years postpartum using a 24-hour recall. Child development (cognitive skills, socioemotional development, and mental health) outcomes were assessed at six years. We found four distinct grandmother caregiving trajectories during infancy: (1) Low (34.9%), (2) Unstable Medium (9.3%), (3) Stable Medium (40.8%), and (4) High (14.9%). Early life grandmother caregiving trajectories longitudinally predicted specific developmental domains in middle childhood. Children with grandmothers in the High trajectory group had higher inhibitory control, and children with grandmothers in the Unstable Medium group had greater socioemotional problems. No meaningful differences with verbal comprehension, working memory, or anxiety scores were observed. Future research should characterize key family members' caregiving patterns throughout childhood to capture the dynamic nature of caregiving. In addition to parents, interventions that engage grandmothers may help create a cohesive caregiving environment and improve child development.

Based on the social ecological systems framework and the family stress model, we examine a model in which the family's exposure to ethnic-political violence in the Middle East predicts negative family functioning, which in turn predicts subsequent harsh physical punishment toward one's children, and in turn, children's aggression by late adolescence/early adulthood. Beginning in 2007, we collected four waves of data from Israeli Jewish (N=451 at Wave 1) and Palestinian (N=600 at Wave 1) youths (three age cohorts: 8, 11, and 14 years old) and their parents. We found that exposure to ethnic-political violence increases harsh parenting and, subsequently, child aggression, via processes emanating from the family context (interparental aggression) in line with theorizing from the family stress and ecological systems frameworks. These results highlight the usefulness of applying the family stress model to families exposed to ethnic-political violence, and the need for multi-level interventions for these families.

The eight longitudinal studies published in this special section rely on data from five countries and on rigorous methodologies (such as genetically sensitive, multilevel, or experimental designs) to shed light on predictors and outcomes of peer victimization at school. This introduction highlights the main questions addressed by the current set of studies. First, we present studies which sought to identify the factors that a) put children and youth at higher risk of victimization by peers and b) exacerbate the effects of these vulnerability factors, as well as to determine whether genes account for some of these effects. Second, we present studies focusing on the links between peer victimization and later biological, psychological and social adjustment and on the possible moderators and mediators of these associations. Together, these studies help us better understand the maladaptive cycle of peer victimization, which can inform the development of school-based and targeted interventions.

This study examined whether parenting behavior serves as an intervening mechanism in accounting for associations between romantic attachment styles and children's emotional reactivity (i.e., anger and distress reactivity). Participants included 235 mothers (62% White) and a preschool-aged child (M_age = 2.97; 55% female) recruited from a moderate-sized city in the northeastern United States. Families visited the laboratory at two measurement occasions spaced approximately one year apart. At the first measurement occasion, mothers provided self-reports of their romantic attachment style and participated in three different parent-child interaction tasks. Ratings of harsh parenting were coded from each of the three tasks. From these ratings, a coefficient of variation score was used to assess the mother's inconsistent harsh parenting across the three tasks, and we also computed the mean of harsh parenting across the three tasks. Observational ratings of children's anger and distress reactivity were coded from two tasks designed to elicit children's negative emotion. Results of structural equation model analyses revealed that romantic attachment anxiety was associated with inconsistent harsh parenting across the three parenting tasks. In turn, inconsistent harsh parenting was associated with increases in children's anger reactivity one year later. Romantic attachment avoidance was associated with higher average levels of harsh parenting across the parenting tasks. However, average levels of harsh parenting were not associated with children's emotional reactivity. Findings provide partial evidence that parenting behavior serves as an intervening mechanism in explaining associations between romantic attachment styles and children's emotional reactivity.

Inclusive classrooms aim to promote the social participation of children with learning difficulties (LD). Research shows that children without LD view it as fair to include their peers with LD into the classroom community. Still, children with LD often face social exclusion. This study addressed this gap by investigating how children reason about challenging LD-based exclusion. One objective was to document the distinction between children's personal goals and their expectations of their peers' goals when confronting exclusionary behavior towards a peer with LD. Swiss elementary school children (N = 349, 7-13 years, 48% female) were introduced to a scenario about a classmate with LD who was excluded from a group task. They reasoned whether and why they would intervene and what reactions they expected from the group and the perpetrator. The results showed that the vast majority of children personally intended to intervene, primarily for moral reasons. However, children's expectations about their peers were different. They expected a wide range of responses, including negative group dynamics and LD-stereotypes. Higher perceptions of inclusive classroom norms were related to fewer expectations of negative group dynamics. Moreover, older children's reasoning was more differentiated and included multiple concerns simultaneously. These findings inform strategies for creating inclusive classrooms.

By violating social norms, deviant behavior is an important issue that affects society as a whole and has serious consequences for its individuals. Different scientific disciplines have proposed theories of deviant behavior that often fall short of predicting actual behavior. In this registered report, we used data from the longitudinal National Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the predictability of juvenile delinquency (Wave I) and adult criminal behavior (Wave V), distinguishing between drug, property, and violent offenses. Comparing the predictive accuracy of traditional regression models with different machine learning algorithms (elastic net regression and gradient boosting machines), we found the elastic net regressions with item-level data performed best. The prediction of juvenile delinquency was relatively accurate for drug offenses (R ² = .57), violent offenses (R ² = .44), and property offenses (R ² = .39), while the performance declined significantly for adult delinquency, with R ² values ranging from .16 to .13. Key predictors of juvenile delinquency versus adult criminal behavior were clearly different from each other. Early risk factors for adult criminal behavior included prior juvenile delinquency, particularly drug-related offenses, sex, and school-related issues such as suspension or expulsion. We discuss the findings in the context of relevant theories on the causes and development of criminal behavior and explore potential approaches for prevention and early intervention, particularly within the framework of the "Central Eight".

Background: Irritability comprises a set of behaviors that span normal:abnormal proneness to anger. When dysregulated and developmentally atypical, irritability indicates neurodevelopmental vulnerability for mental health problems. Yet, mental health risk indicators such as irritability likely present differently during specific developmental stages, especially across the crucial transition from preschool to early school age, when the presence of sustained elevated irritability predicts psychiatric disorders, increased impairment, and service use in school-age children. The goal of this study is to chart how behavioral manifestations of irritability unfold and shift across the developmental transition from preschool to early school age and identify key irritability behaviors that are most strongly predictive of other irritability behaviors in the next developmental stage.

Methods: The sample was drawn from the Multidimensional Assessment of Preschoolers Study (MAPS, N=382), a diverse early childhood sample enriched for psychopathology via oversampling for disruptive behavior and family violence exposure. Objective frequency of normative to severe irritability captured as tantrum features and irritable mood across contexts were longitudinally measured at preschool- (M_age=4.49 years, SD=0.83) and early school-age (M_age=7.08, SD=0.94) using the developmentally specified Multidimensional Assessment Profile Scales-Temper Loss. A cross-lagged panel network was estimated to depict the longitudinal predictive connections between individual irritability items from preschool to early school age.

Results: The strongest cross-lagged association was hit/bit/kick during a tantrum at preschool predicting tantrums in normative contexts at early school age. Severe tantrum behaviors (e.g., hit/bite/kick) and difficulty recovering from anger/tantrums at preschool age are key irritability behaviors that predict the development of widespread irritability features in early school age, including severity and length of tantrums, tantrums across contexts, and irritable mood expressions. As development unfolds, severe and violent irritable behaviors in preschool age influence a wide range of less dysregulated irritable behaviors, yet expressed at developmentally abnormally high frequencies, during early school age.

Conclusions: Highlighting the central behavioral indicators of irritability and how expressions change over the crucial transition from preschool to early school age can inform pragmatic clinical screening measures to identify children who experience high levels of key irritability behaviors (i.e., severe tantrums or difficulty recovering from anger or tantrums in preschool-age) and novel interventions to target these behaviors and interrupt the clinical cascade toward entrenched psychiatric disorders.