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Preschoolers
Kinds of Preschoolers Selected AbstractsPreschoolers continue to trust a more accurate informant 1 week after exposure to accuracy informationDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009Kathleen Corriveau To determine whether children retain a preference for a previously accurate informant only in the short term or for long-term use, 3- and 4-year-old children were tested in two experiments. In both experiments, children were given accuracy information about two informants and were subsequently tested for their selective trust in the two informants (Experiment 1: immediately, 1 day and 1 week later; Experiment 2: immediately, 4 days and 1 week later). Both age groups preferred to trust the accurate informant not only immediately after receiving accuracy information but also at subsequent time-points. Children who were immediately able to explicitly identify the accurate informant were significantly more likely to seek and accept information from her 1 week later. However, even when they had not been asked to explicitly identify the accurate informant both age groups still maintained their preference for her. Thus, by 3 years of age, children spontaneously choose a previously accurate informant up to 1 week after exposure to information regarding her accuracy. [source] Attention Problems in Very Low Birth Weight Preschoolers: Are New Screening Measures Needed for This Special Population?JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC NURSING, Issue 2 2007Deborah Winders Davis DNS PROBLEM:,Children born prematurely have been shown to have a range of problems that often result in delayed academic achievement. METHODS:,The current study assessed both attention problem scores (Child Behavior Checklist) and actual performance on tasks tapping three attention networks in a sample of children (n = 94) born with very low birth weights (VLBW; , 1500 grams). FINDINGS:,Attention problem scores were extremely low and did not predict children's actual attention performance. CONCLUSIONS:,A body of research is developing that suggests VLBW children may have specific, yet subtle, attention problems that may differ from those of other children. [source] Dental Caries Experience and Factors among Preschoolers in Southeastern Mexico: A Brief CommunicationJOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY, Issue 2 2006América Segovia-Villanueva MSc Abstract Objective: To examine the Association between dental caries prevalence and selected variables in preschool children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 1,303 preschoolers (ages 3,6 years old), and the mothers completed questionnaires. The children were examined by one of three standardized dental examiners. Logistic regression was performed to identify Associations between dental caries and other factors. Results: Mean dmft was 1.54+2.47, with 44.1% of children having dmft>O. Caries prevalence was Associated with older children (OR=1.39); medium (OR=1.66) and low (OR=2.41) socioeconomic levels; mediocre (OR=l.71) and inadequate (OR=2.25) hygiene; negative attitude toward oral health (OR=1.51); and the presence of enamel defects (OR= 1.74). Conclusion: Both overall caries prevalence and dmft index were relatively low. The results of this study substantiate previous reports in the international literature for clinical, behavior, socio-demographic, and socio-economic variables that contribute to dental caries in Mexican children. [source] Health Problems and Health Behaviors of Korean Preschoolers Living With Parents and Under GuardianshipPUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2009Hee-Soon Kim ABSTRACT Purpose: A comparative analysis was conducted to identify and compare the health status and behaviors of preschoolers attending daycare centers in South Korea between children living with parents and those under guardianship. Design: The study design was descriptive and correlational. Sample: Data were collected from 152 parents and 85 guardians of preschool children using a structured questionnaire. Results: Of 237 children, 23.9,32.5% were overweight or obese, while 13.8,30.0% were underweight. Boys under guardianship were more likely to be obese. Hand-foot-mouth disease and atopic dermatitis were more prevalent among children living with parents, while those under guardianship were less likely to have dentistry visits, more likely to be absent from childcare due to pneumonia, and had significantly fewer health-related conversations with their guardians. In relation to health behaviors, the frequency of tooth-brushing and high-calcium food consumption was significantly lower among children under guardianship than among those living with parents. Conclusion: Compared with children living with parents, those under guardianship were exposed to unfavorable circumstances in terms of health management practices and health behaviors, which implies that the guardians were less interested in health care and dealt inappropriately with the health problems of their foster children. [source] The Methamphetamine Home: Psychological Impact on Preschoolers in Rural TennesseeTHE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2008Comfort B. Asanbe PhD ABSTRACT:,Context:A growing number of children reside with methamphetamine-abusing parents in homes where the illicit drug is produced. Yet, the effects of a methamphetamine environment on psychological child outcome are still unknown. Purpose: To examine whether preschoolers who lived in methamphetamine-producing homes are at increased risk for developing psychological problems. Methods: The participants were 58 white children between the ages of 4 and 5 years; 31 with a history of living in methamphetamine-producing homes and 27 children who live in non-methamphetamine producing homes in rural Tennessee. The groups were similar in age, gender, and socioeconomic background. The groups were compared for behavioral and emotional adjustment using the behavior assessment system for children-parent rating scale-preschool (BASC-PRS-P) form. Biological or custodian parents completed a rating on their preschoolers that provided information about the children's pattern of behavior and feelings. Findings: Preschoolers from the methamphetamine-producing homes showed more externalizing problems than their peers, but were comparable on internalizing problems. On specific behaviors, the data indicate that preschoolers in the methamphetamine group showed higher aggression symptoms than their peers from non-methamphetamine-producing homes. Conclusions: These findings, if replicated, point to the need for mental health screening when a child is removed from a methamphetamine-producing home. [source] Children's Use of Syntactic and Pragmatic Knowledge in the Interpretation of Novel AdjectivesCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2006Gil Diesendruck In Study 1, English-speaking 3- and 4-year-olds heard a novel adjective used to label one of two objects and were asked for the referent of a different novel adjective. Children were more likely to select the unlabeled object if the two adjectives appeared prenominally (e.g., "a very DAXY dog") than as predicates (e.g., "a dog that is very DAXY"). Study 2 revealed that this response occurred only when both adjectives were prenominal. Study 3 replicated Study 1 with Hebrew-speaking 3- and 4,year-olds, even though in Hebrew both types of adjectives appear postnominally. Preschoolers understand that prenominal adjectives imply a restriction of the reference of nouns, and this knowledge motivates a contrastive pragmatic inference regarding the referents of different prenominal adjectives. [source] Insulin requirement in preschoolers treated with insulin pumps at the onset of type 1 diabetes mellitusACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 3 2009Agnieszka Szypowska Abstract The aim: The aim of this study is to analyze changes in the basal insulin requirement in preschoolers treated with insulin pump at the onset of T1DM, using system to calculate meal time insulin. Methods: 58 children (31 girls) under 6 years (mean age 3.3 ± 1.5 years) initiated on insulin pump therapy within 2 months after recognition of T1DM and treated at least for 1 year were analyzed during a follow-up period of 165 patient-years. Data was collected every 6 months: HbA1c, BMI SDS, diabetic ketoacidosis, severe hypoglycaemia, total daily insulin dose (TDD) and basal insulin. Results: Basal insulin rose from 10% in the third month and did not exceed 30% of TDD after 12 months (p<0.0001). In the third month, 46% of children were without basal insulin; this group included significantly older children (3.7 ± 1.4 vs. 2.8 ± 1.4 years; p = 0.01), which had lower TDD (0.33 ± 0.18 vs. 0.54 ± 0.23u/kg/d; p = 0.0007) than children with basal insulin. HbA1c persisted ,7.3%. Conclusion: In preschool children initiated on CSII therapy at the time of T1DM diagnosis the first year of treatment is critical for altering the basal insulin dose. Preschoolers with TDD lower than 0.5U/kg/d may not require basal insulin. Moreover, basal insulin did not exceed 30% of TDD in the first years after T1DM onset. [source] Preschool Emotional Competence: Pathway to Social Competence?CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2003Susanne A. Denham Preschoolers' (N = 143) patterns of emotional expressiveness, emotion regulation, and emotion knowledge were assessed. Their contributions to social competence, as evidenced by sociometric likability and teacher ratings, were evaluated via latent variable modeling, both concurrently and across time. Moderation of key results by age and sex was also explored. Emotional competence assessed at 3 to 4 years of age contributed to both concurrent and kindergarten social competence. Even early in the preschool period, contributions of emotional competence to social competence have long,term implications. [source] Use of the Broselow Tape May Result in the Underresuscitation of ChildrenACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 10 2006ACNP, Carolyn T. Nieman MSN Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the concordance of the Broselow tape with the measured heights and weights of a community-based population of children, especially in light of the increase in obesity in today's children. Methods The authors examined more than 7,500 children in a cross-sectional, descriptive study in two different cohorts of children to compare their actual weight with their predicted weight by a color-coded tape measure. Results In all patients, the percent agreement and , values of the Broselow color predicted by height versus the actual color by weight for the 2002A tape were 66.2% and 0.61, respectively. The concordance was best in infants, followed by school-age children, toddlers, and preschoolers (,= 0.66, 0.44, 0.39, and 0.39, respectively; percent agreement, 81.3%, 58.2%, 60.7%, and 64.0%, respectively). The tapes accurately predicted (within 10%) medication dosages for resuscitation in 55.3%,60.0% of the children. The number of children who were underdosed (by ,10%) exceeded those who were overdosed (by ,10%) by 2.5 to 4.4 times (p < 0.05). The tapes accurately predicted uncuffed endotracheal tube sizes when compared with age-based guidelines in 71% of the children, with undersizing (,0.5 mm) exceeding oversizing by threefold to fourfold (p < 0.05). Conclusions The Broselow tape color-coded system inaccurately predicted actual weight in one third of children. Caregivers need to take into consideration the accuracy of this device when estimating children's weight during the resuscitation of a child. [source] Mathematical development in spina bifidaDEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Lianne H. English Abstract Spina bifida (SB) is a neural tube defect diagnosed before or at birth that is associated with a high incidence of math disability often without co-occurring difficulties in reading. SB provides an interesting population within which to examine the development of mathematical abilities and disability across the lifespan and in relation to the deficits in visual-spatial processing that are also associated with the disorder. An overview of math and its cognitive correlates in preschoolers, school-age children and adults with SB is presented including the findings from a longitudinal study linking early executive functions in infancy to the development of later preschool and school age math skills. These findings are discussed in relation to socio-historical perspectives on math education and implications for intervention and directions for further research are presented. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Dev Disabil Res Rev 2009;15:28,34. [source] Assessment of executive function in preschool-aged childrenDEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH REVIEW, Issue 3 2005Peter K. Isquith Abstract Assessment of the overarching self-regulatory mechanisms, or executive functions, in any age group is challenging, in part due to the complexity of this domain, in part due to their dynamic essence, and in part due to the inextricable links between these central processes and the associated domain-specific processes, such as language, motor function, and attention, over which they preside. While much progress has been made in clinical assessment approaches for measuring executive functions in adults and to some extent in adolescents and school-aged children, the toolkit for the preschool evaluator remains sparse. The past decade, however, has seen a substantial increase in attention to executive functions in very young children from a developmental neuropsychological perspective. With this has come a necessity for better, more specific, and more internally valid performance measures, many of which are now described in the experimental literature. Few such tasks, however, have adequately demonstrated psychometric properties for clinical application. We present two performance tasks designed to tap selective aspects of executive function in preschoolers that are emerging from the experimental laboratory and hold promise of appropriate reliability and validity for the clinical laboratory. Performance tests alone, however, are insufficient to develop a comprehensive picture of a child's executive functioning. Thus, we present a rating scale of preschoolers' executive function in the everyday context, and advocate a model of executive function assessment that incorporates both controlled performance tasks that target specific aspects of executive function and parent/teacher ratings that target more global aspects of self-regulation in the everyday context. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2005;11:209,215. [source] Cortisol and externalizing behavior in children and adolescents: Mixed meta-analytic evidence for the inverse relation of basal cortisol and cortisol reactivity with externalizing behaviorDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Lenneke R.A. Alink Abstract An inverse relation between cortisol (re)activity and externalizing behavior has been hypothesized, but research findings seem equivocal. We tested this hypo(re)activity hypothesis in two meta-analyses, one for basal cortisol (k,=,72 studies, N,=,5,480) and one for cortisol reactivity to a stressor (k,=,29 studies, N,=,2,601). No association was found between cortisol reactivity and externalizing behaviors (r,=,,.04, 95% CI,=,,.11, .02). However, the relation between basal cortisol and externalizing behavior was significant but small (r,=,,.05, 95% CI,=,,.10, ,.002). The age of the children significantly moderated this relation: Externalizing behavior was associated with higher basal cortisol (hyperactivity) in preschoolers (r,=,.09, 95% CI,=,.002, .17), and with lower basal cortisol (hypoactivity) in elementary school-aged children (r,=,,.14, 95% CI,=,,.19, ,.08). There was no significant relation between cortisol and externalizing behavior in adolescents. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 427,450, 2008. [source] Does motor activity during psychophysiological paradigms confound the quantification and interpretation of heart rate and heart rate variability measures in young children?DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Stephen W. Porges Abstract Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), heart period, and motor activity were monitored in preschoolers during a variety of tasks varying in required movement. The data analyses indicate: (1) that when activity increases during tasks, there are synchronous decreases in heart period and RSA; (2) that correlations between changes in RSA and heart period are related to activity only during exercise when there is a major demand for increased metabolic resources; and (3) that the covariation among the variables within each condition is low except during exercise. These findings suggest that the slight increases in motor activity (i.e., hand movements) often required in attention demanding psychophysiological protocols are not related to RSA and heart period responses. However, when tasks necessitate large increases in motor activity (e.g., exercise), the decreases in heart period and RSA are related to the change in motor activity. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 485-494, 2007. [source] Developmental profiles for multiple object tracking and spatial memory: typically developing preschoolers and people with Williams syndromeDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2010Kirsten O'Hearn The ability to track moving objects, a crucial skill for mature performance on everyday spatial tasks, has been hypothesized to require a specialized mechanism that may be available in infancy (i.e. indexes). Consistent with the idea of specialization, our previous work showed that object tracking was more impaired than a matched spatial memory task in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder characterized by severe visuo-spatial impairment. We now ask whether this unusual pattern of performance is a reflection of general immaturity or of true abnormality, possibly reflecting the atypical brain development in WS. To examine these two possibilities, we tested typically developing 3- and 4-year-olds and people with WS on multiple object tracking (MOT) and memory for static spatial location. The maximum number of objects that could be correctly tracked or remembered (estimated from the k -statistic) showed similar developmental profiles in typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children, but the WS profile differed from either age group. People with WS could track more objects than 3-year-olds, and the same number as 4-year-olds, but they could remember the locations of more static objects than both 3- and 4-year-olds. Combining these data with those from our previous studies, we found that typically developing children show increases in the number of objects they can track or remember between the ages of 3 and 6, and these increases grow in parallel across the two tasks. In contrast, object tracking in older children and adults with WS remains at the level of 4-year-olds, whereas the ability to remember multiple locations of static objects develops further. As a whole, the evidence suggests that MOT and memory for static location develop in tandem typically, but not in WS. Atypical development of the parietal lobe in people with WS could play a causal role in the abnormal, uneven pattern of performance in WS. This interpretation is consistent with the idea that multiple object tracking engages different mechanisms from those involved in memory for static object location, and that the former can be particularly disrupted by atypical development. [source] The emergence of a novel representation from action: evidence from preschoolersDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2010Rebecca Boncoddo Recent work in embodied cognition has proposed that representations and actions are inextricably linked. The current study examines a developmental account of this relationship. Specifically, we propose that children's actions are foundational for novel representations. Thirty-two preschoolers, aged 3.4 to 5.7 years, were asked to solve a set of simple gear-system problems. Participants' motions and verbalizations were coded to establish the strategies they used. The preschoolers initially solved the problems by simulating the turning and pushing of the gears. Subsequently, most participants discovered a new representation of the problems: the turning direction of the gears alternates. Results show that the number of actions that embodied alternation information, during their simulation of the system, predicted the later emergence of the higher-order representation (i.e. that the gears alternate turning direction). Thus, it appears that the preschoolers discovered a new representation based on their own actions. These results are consistent with the developmental embodiment hypothesis: actions are central to the emergence of new representations. [source] Understanding of speaker certainty and false-belief reasoning: a comparison of Japanese and German preschoolersDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009Tomoko Matsui It has been repeatedly shown that when asked to identify a protagonist's false belief on the basis of his false statement, English-speaking 3-year-olds dismiss the statement and fail to attribute to him a false belief. In the present studies, we tested 3-year-old Japanese children in a similar task, using false statements accompanied by grammaticalized particles of speaker (un)certainty, as in everyday Japanese utterances. The Japanese children were directly compared with same-aged German children, whose native language does not have grammaticalized epistemic concepts. Japanese children profited from the explicit statement of the protagonist's false belief when it was marked with the attitude of certainty in a way that German children did not , presumably because Japanese but not German children must process such marking routinely in their daily discourse. These results are discussed in the broader context of linguistic and theory of mind development. [source] Cognitive flexibility in preschoolers: the role of representation activation and maintenanceDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2008Nicolas Chevalier Preschoolers' lack of cognitive flexibility has often been attributed to perseverative processing. This study investigates alternative potential sources of difficulty such as deficits in activating previously ignored information and in maintaining currently relevant information. In Experiment 1, a new task tapping attentional switching was designed to isolate the difficulty of overriding an initial representation, that is, perseverative processing (,Perseveration' version), and the difficulty of activating a previously ignored representation, that is, activation deficit (,Activation-deficit' version). Three-year-olds' performance suggested that inflexibility may primarily stem from an activation deficit. Control experiments confirmed that the difficulty of the ,Activation-deficit' version could not be attributed to the effect of attraction to novelty. In Experiment 2, ,distraction' errors, alleged to reflect a failure to maintain a relevant representation, and ,perseverative' errors were distinguished. The results highlighted the important role of representation maintenance in flexibility. The present study indicates that preschoolers' lack of cognitive flexibility is multi-determined and prompts us to reconsider the role of perseveration. [source] Social grooming in the kindergarten: the emergence of flattery behaviorDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2007Genyue Fu The present study examined the emergence of flattery behavior in young children and factors that might affect whether and how it is displayed. Preschool children between the ages of 3 and 6 years were asked to rate drawings produced by either a present or absent adult stranger (Experiments 1 and 2), child stranger (Experiments 2 and 3), classmate, or the children's own teacher (Experiment 3). Young preschoolers gave consistent ratings to the same drawing by the person regardless of whether the person was absent or present. In contrast, many older preschoolers gave more flattering ratings to the drawing when the person was present than in the person's absence. Also, older preschoolers displayed flattery regardless of whether the recipient was an adult or a child. However, they displayed flattery to a greater extent towards familiar individuals than unfamiliar ones, demonstrating an emerging sensitivity to social contexts in which flattery is used. These findings suggest that preschoolers have already learned not to articulate bluntly their true feelings and thoughts about others. Rather, they are able to manipulate their communications according to social context. [source] How fantasy benefits young children's understanding of pretenseDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2006David M. Sobel Sobel and Lillard (2001) demonstrated that 4-year-olds' understanding of the role that the mind plays in pretending improved when children were asked questions in a fantasy context. The present study investigated whether this fantasy effect was motivated by children recognizing that fantasy contains violations of real-world causal structure. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds were shown a fantasy character engaged in ordinary actions or actions that violated causal knowledge. Children were more likely to say that a troll doll who was acting like but ignorant of the character was not pretending to be that character when read the violation story. Experiment 2 suggested that this difference was not caused by a greater interest in the violation story. Experiment 3 demonstrated a similar difference for characters engaged in social and functional violations that were possible in the real world. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that preschoolers use actions and appearance more than mental states to make judgments about pretense, but that those judgments can be influenced by the context in which the questions are presented. [source] A visit from the Candy Witch: factors influencing young children's belief in a novel fantastical beingDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004Jacqueline D. Woolley Factors hypothesized to affect beliefs in fantastical beings were examined by introducing children to a novel fantastical entity, the Candy Witch. Results revealed that among older preschoolers, children who were visited by the Candy Witch exhibited stronger beliefs in the Candy Witch than did those who were not. Among children who were visited, older children had stronger beliefs than did younger children. Among children who were not visited, those with a high Fantasy Orientation believed more strongly than did those with a low Fantasy Orientation. Belief remained high one year later. At both time points, the number of other fantastical beings in which a child believed was significantly related to belief in the Candy Witch. [source] Young children who abandon error behaviourally still have to free themselves mentally: a retrospective test for inhibition in intuitive physicsDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2004Norman H. Freeman When preschoolers overcome persistent error, subsequent patterns of correct choices may identify how the error had been overcome. Children who no longer misrepresented a ball rolling down a bent tube as though it could only fall vertically, were asked sometimes to approach and sometimes to avoid where the ball landed. All children showed requisite task-switching flexibility. The pattern of 4-year-olds' correct choices among different places showed unnecessary avoidance of any place that would previously have tempted them into a vertical-approach error, 5-year-olds rebounded into a reversal, and 7-year-olds were flexible. The data attest to an inhibition mechanism, ruling out competing possibilities. [source] Visual spatial attention and speech segmentation are both impaired in preschoolers at familial risk for developmental dyslexiaDYSLEXIA, Issue 3 2010Andrea Facoetti Abstract Phonological skills are foundational of reading acquisition and impaired phonological processing is widely assumed to characterize dyslexic individuals. However, reading by phonological decoding also requires rapid selection of sublexical orthographic units through serial attentional orienting, and recent studies have shown that visual spatial attention is impaired in dyslexic children. Our study investigated these different neurocognitive dysfunctions, before reading acquisition, in a sample of preschoolers including children with (N=20) and without (N=67) familial risk for developmental dyslexia. Children were tested on phonological skills, rapid automatized naming, and visual spatial attention. At-risk children presented deficits in both visual spatial attention and syllabic segmentation at the group level. Moreover, the combination of visual spatial attention and syllabic segmentation scores was more reliable than either single measure for the identification of at-risk children. These findings suggest that both visuo-attentional and perisylvian-auditory dysfunctions might adversely affect reading acquisition, and may offer a new approach for early identification and remediation of developmental dyslexia. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Observing Purchase-Related Parent,Child Communication in Retail Environments: A Developmental and Socialization PerspectiveHUMAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Issue 1 2008Moniek Buijzen In a quantitative observation study, we unobtrusively examined purchase-related communication between 0- to 12-year-old children and their parents (N= 269 dyads) during supermarket and toy store visits. The aims of the study were to determine (a) the development of purchase-related parent,child communication (i.e., children's purchase influence attempts, their coercive behavior, parent-initiated communication) and (b) the relative influence of different socialization variables (e.g., television viewing, family communication patterns) on these communication variables. Our inverted-U hypothesis for the effect of developmental level on purchase influence attempts received support: Children's purchase influence attempts increased until early elementary school and started to decline in late elementary school. Our inverted-U hypothesis for the effect of developmental level on coercive behavior was also supported: Children's coercive behavior was highest among preschoolers. With increasing age, children were more likely to be involved in the purchase decision-making process, and parent,child communication more often resulted in a product purchase. Finally, children's television viewing was the most important (positive) predictor of their purchase influence attempts. Résumé L'observation dans des environnements commerciaux de la communication parent-enfant liée à l,achat: Une perspective du développement et de la socialisation Dans une étude quantitative par observation, nous avons discrètement examiné la communication liée à l'achat entre des enfants de 0 à 12 ans et leurs parents (N= 269 dyades) au cours de visites dans des supermarchés et des boutiques de jouets. Les objectifs de l'étude étaient de déterminer a) le développement de la communication parent-enfant liée à l,achat (c.-à-d. les tentatives des enfants d'influencer l,achat, leur comportement coercitif ainsi que la communication initiée par le parent) et b) l'influence relative de différentes variables de socialisation (par exemple l'écoute de la télévision ou les schémas de communication familiaux) sur ces variables communicationnelles. Notre hypothèse en U inversé concernant l,effet du niveau de développement sur les tentatives d'influence d,achat fut appuyée : les tentatives des enfants d'influencer les achats ont augmenté jusqu,au début de l'école élémentaire et ont commencéà décliner à la fin de l'école élémentaire. Notre hypothèse en U inversé supposant des effets du niveau de développement sur le comportement coercitif fut aussi appuyée : le comportement coercitif fut le plus élevé chez les enfants d'âge préscolaire. Plus l'âge augmentait et plus les enfants étaient susceptibles d'être impliqués dans le processus décisionnel d'achat, et la communication parent-enfant résultait plus souvent en l,achat d'un produit. Finalement, l'écoute télévisuelle des enfants était la variable explicative (positive) la plus importante de leurs tentatives d,influence des achats. Abstract Beobachtung von kaufbezogener Elternteil-Kind-Kommunikation in Einzelhandelsumgebungen: Eine Entwicklungs- und Sozialisationsperspektive In einer quantitativen Beobachtungsstudie untersuchten wir verdeckt die kaufbezogene Kommunikation zwischen Kindern (0-12 Jahre) und einem Elternteil (N=269 Dyaden) während ihres Besuchs im Supermarkt oder Spielzeugladen. Ziele der Studie waren: a) die Entwicklung von kaufbezogener Kommunikation zwischen Elternteil und Kind und b) den relativen Einfluss verschiedener Sozialisationsvariablen (z.B. Fernsehnutzung, Familienkommunikationsmuster) auf diese Variablen zu untersuchen. Unsere umgekehrte U-Hypothese bezüglich des Einflusses des Entwicklungsstadiums auf den Grad der Einflussnahmeversuche auf den Kauf wurde gestützt: Die Einflussnahmeversuche nahmen bis zur frühen Grundschulzeit zu und gingen in der späten Grundschulzeit zurück. Unsere umgekehrte U-Hypothese bezüglich des Einflusses des Entwicklungsstadiums auf erzwingendes Verhalten wurde auch bestätigt: erzwingendes Verhalten von Kindern war am stärksten im Vorschulalter. Mit zunehmendem Alter wurden Kinder mehr in Kaufentscheidungsprozesse einbezogenen und die Eltern-Kind-Kommunikation resultierte häufiger im Kauf des Produkts. Letztendlich zeigte sich, dass das Fernsehnutzungsverhalten der Kinder der wichtigste (positive) Prädiktor für Kaufeinflussversuche war. Resumen Observando la Comunicación entre Padres y Niños durante las Compras en los Ambientes de Venta al por Menor: Una Perspectiva de Desarrollo y Socialización En un estudio de observación cuantitativa, examinamos de manera discreta la comunicación relacionada con la compra entre niños de 0- a 12-anos de edad y sus padres (N= 269 dúos) durante sus visitas al supermercado y las tiendas de juguetes. Los propósitos de este estudio fueron determinar (a) el desarrollo de la comunicación entre padres e hijos durante las compras (a saber, los intentos de los niños de influir en la compra, el comportamiento coercitivo, la comunicación iniciada por los padres), y (b) la influencia relativa de las diferentes variables de socialización (a saber, exposición a la televisión, pautas de comunicación familiar) sobre estas variables de comunicación. Nuestra hipótesis U invertida para los efectos del nivel de desarrollo sobre los intentos de influencia de compra recibieron apoyo: Los intentos de los niños de influir en la compra incrementaron hasta antes de la escuela primaria y comenzó a declinar más tarde en la escuela primaria. Nuestra hipótesis U invertida para los efectos del nivel de desarrollo sobre el comportamiento coercitivo recibieron apoyo: El comportamiento coercitivo fue mayor durante la etapa pre-escolar. Con el aumento de la edad, los niños se involucraron más probablemente en el proceso de decisión de compra, y la comunicación padre-hijo resultó más a menudo en la compra de un producto. Finalmente, la exposición de los niños a la televisión fue el vaticinador más importante (positivo) de sus intentos de influencia de compra. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source] Performance on Stroop-like assessments of inhibitory control by 4- and 5-year-old childrenINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010Dave S. Pasalich Abstract The rapid development of an aspect of executive functioning (EF), inhibitory control (IC), between the ages of 3- and 5-years, leads to an increase in a child's capacity to suppress inappropriate responding and therefore activate the necessary resources to carry-out goal-directed activity (Psychological Bulletin, 1997, 121, 65,94). To measure EF in children, tasks administered clinically to adults are adapted. The Day,Night Stroop (DNS) is a pictorial modification of the Stroop Test (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1935, 18, 642,662), developed for pre-literate children. Although suitable as a measure of IC in 3- to 4-year-old children, ceiling effects have been reported on the DNS in slightly older preschoolers. The present study attempted to overcome this limitation by examining the suitability of two modified versions of the DNS in 4- to 5-year-old preschoolers. To investigate the executive demands made by both Stroop-like tasks, their associations with another measure of IC (stop-signal task) and a measure of working memory were examined. Counter to expectations, no significant association was found in performance between the two Stroop-like tasks; however, the modified DNS developed in this study showed significant relationships with the other executive tasks. The results are discussed in relation to the different methodologies used by these Stroop measures. Implications of this study suggest that researchers should consider more test-specific factors when assessing EF in young children. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Interference control in preschoolers: factors influencing performance on the day,night taskINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2008Derek E. Montgomery Abstract Two experiments investigated preschoolers' interference control in variants of the day,night task. The day,night task involves instructing children across 16 trials to say the word ,day' when viewing a card depicting a nighttime sky and to say ,night' when shown a picture of the daytime sky. The purpose of the experiments was to investigate whether the depiction on each card distracts children because it is semantically associated with the instructed response or because the depicted item cues the alternative (incorrect) response within the response set. The results in the first study (N=23, M=52.65 months) and second study (N=54, M=50.81 months) indicate that a close semantic relation between the picture and the target response does not pose substantial interference for preschoolers. In contrast, the pictured item poses a significant challenge for preschoolers when it depicts the interfering alternative in the response set. Theoretical implications of these results for the development of interference control are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Shyness and emotion-processing skills in preschoolers: a 6-month longitudinal studyINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2008Paul S. Strand Abstract The present study utilized a short-term longitudinal research design to examine the hypothesis that shyness in preschoolers is differentially related to different aspects of emotion processing. Using teacher reports of shyness and performance measures of emotion processing, including (1) facial emotion recognition, (2) non-facial emotion recognition, and (3) emotional perspective-taking, we examined 337 Head Start attendees twice at a 24-week interval. Results revealed significant concurrent and longitudinal relationships between shyness and facial emotion recognition, and either minimal or non-existent relationships between shyness and the other aspects of emotion processing. Correlational analyses of concurrent assessments revealed that shyness predicted poorer facial emotion recognition scores for negative emotions (sad, angry, and afraid), but not a positive emotion (happy). Analyses of change over time, on the other hand, revealed that shyness predicted change in facial emotion recognition scores for all four measured emotions. Facial emotion recognition scores did not predict changes in shyness. Results are discussed with respect to expanding the scope of research on shyness and emotion processing to include time-dependent studies that allow for the specification of developmental processes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Skin conductance and heart-rate responses as indices of covert face recognition in preschool childrenINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2004Kjell Morten Stormark Abstract Covert face recognition was examined in 12 young preschoolers (age range 26,48 months) by comparing their autonomic functions to slides depicting former playmates from a family nursery school that the preschoolers had attended earlier with slides of their present playmates and unfamiliar children. While all preschoolers reported corroborated overt recognition of present playmates after the experiment, only three of them did so in relation to former playmates. The distribution of yes,no responses on the overt recognition task to former playmates was not significantly different from the responses to unfamiliar children. Nevertheless, the preschoolers evidenced increased skin conductance responses (SCRs) and more pronounced heart rate (HR) deceleration to the slides depicting former classmates compared to unfamiliar children. Thus, although the preschoolers' verbal responses did not differentiate between former playmates and unfamiliar children, their autonomic functions did. These findings suggest that young children can retain memories of past experiences in an implicit form without corroborated overt recognition. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Expressive and receptive language skills of temperamentally shy preschoolersINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2004Katherine A. Spere Abstract Although shy children speak less in social situations, the extent to which their language skills fall behind those of their more outgoing peers remains unclear. We selected 22 temperamentally shy and 22 non-shy children from a larger group of 400 4-year-old children who were prescreened for temperamental shyness by maternal report, using the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory (CCTI). We then compared the two groups on widely used measures that index expressive and receptive language skills. We found that, although the temperamentally shy children scored lower on both expressive and receptive language skills compared with their non-shy counterparts, they were nonetheless performing at their age equivalency. The non-shy children, however, were performing significantly above their age level on expressive and receptive language skills. These findings suggest that the development of normal language skills is not compromised in temperamentally shy preschoolers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Mediational behaviours of preschoolers teaching their younger siblingsINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2003Pnina S. Klein There is very little research on the process of teaching in sibling interaction. The current study was designed to explore teaching behaviours of preschoolers and their effects on their toddler siblings. Participants were 40 dyads of 5-yr-olds and their 3-yr-old siblings from a middle class urban community in Israel. The children were divided into four equal groups based on gender and age of the siblings in each dyad. The children were visited at home and invited to play with two puzzles and two Lego games. Their play interaction with their siblings was videotaped. The observations were analysed using the observing mediational interaction (OMI) scale, assessing the frequency and style of the following behaviours: Focussing, Affecting, Encouraging, Expanding, and Regulating Behaviour. The younger siblings' success in playing the games was evaluated using a 5-point scale. The frequency of teaching behaviours in sibling interaction was found to be related to the younger siblings' success on the games. Affecting and Encouraging were significantly related to the younger siblings' level of success on the games. The teaching behaviours of older siblings were characterized by relatively high frequencies of Regulation of Behavior and Encouraging, moderate frequencies of Affecting and low frequencies of Expanding. Boys were found to receive more teaching behaviours than girls. Older brothers and sisters showed higher frequencies of teaching behaviour in interactions with their younger brothers than with their younger sisters. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Mediation in a sibling context: the relations of older siblings' mediating behaviour and younger siblings' task performanceINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2002Pnina S. Klein Abstract We investigated the sibling relationship as a context for cognitive development. Forty preschoolers (ages 5,6) and their younger siblings (ages 2,3) were visited at home. Four games were presented to the older siblings and they were asked (a) to estimate how well their younger sibling will perform on each game and (b) to teach the younger sibling how to use the games. The older siblings' mediating behaviours during the teaching session and the younger siblings' performance on the four tasks were coded. The frequency of mediating behaviours,including attention focusing, amplifying affect and providing meaning, fostering a sense of competence, regulating of the learning process, de-contextualization, and negative feedback in the form of mocking and laughing at errors, predicted the younger siblings' task performance. The older sibling's accurate perception of the younger child's competence was uniquely predictive of task performance. The highest amount of mediation was observed in older-brother,younger-brother pairs, in particular the behaviours of negative feedback and amplifying affect. Results contribute to the discussion on the role of siblings as moderators of cognitive development and are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's cultural,historical perspective on apprenticeship. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||