Repositório do ISPA

Longitudinal analyses of a hierarchical model of peer social competence for preschool children

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Longitudinal analyses of a hierarchical model of peer social competence for preschool children Authors: Shin, Nana; Vaughn, Brian E.; Kim, Mina; Krzysik, Lisa; Bost, Kelly K.; McBride, Brent; Santos, António J.; Peceguina, Inês; Coppola, Gabrielle Abstract: Achieving consensus on the definition and measurement of social competence (SC) for preschool children has proven difficult in the developmental sciences. We tested a hierarchical model in which SC is assumed to be a second-order latent variable by using longitudinal data (N = 345). We also tested the degree to which peer SC at Time 1 predicted changes in positive adjustment from Time 1 to Time 2, based on teacher and peer ratings. Using a multiple-method datacollection strategy, information for three subdomains of SC (social engagement/ motivation, profiles of social interaction and personality assets assessed with Q-sorts, peer acceptance) were collected across consecutive years in preschool programs. Longitudinal confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) demonstrated invariance of both the measurement and the structural models across age levels and yielded a cross-time path weight of .74 for the second-order factor. Analyses of latent means suggested significant increases in SC scores from the first year to second year of participation, and longitudinal cases in their second year of participation had higher scores than did age peers who entered the program as older children. Finally, Time 1 SC predicted increases from Time 1 to Time 2 for SC-relevant indicators rated by teachers and peers (standardized path coefficient of .29, p < .001).

Correlates of Self-directed Behaviors in Captive Cercopithecus aethiops

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Correlates of Self-directed Behaviors in Captive Cercopithecus aethiops Authors: Daniel, João R.; Santos, António J.; Vicente, Luís Abstract: Researchers have widely used self-directed behaviors (SDB) as a behavioral indicator of anxiety in nonhuman primates. We examined if SDB rates in captive vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops) were associated with 1) proximity to conspecifics in general, 2) relative dominance rank of proximity partners, and 3) postconflict situations. Subjects were members of a captive group of vervets at the Lisbon Zoo, Portugal. The group comprised 3 males and 7 females, which were focal sampled for 10.5 h each. Vervets did not engage in more SBD while in proximity of conspecifics than while alone, and individual SDB rates were not generally influenced by dominance ranks of neighbors. Yet, victims of conflicts significantly increased their SDB rates after agonistic episodes, which is consistent with the view that SDB rates are an index of anxiety in Cercopithecus aethiops.

The quality of maternal secure-base scripts predicts children's secure-base behavior at home in three sociocultural groups

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Title: The quality of maternal secure-base scripts predicts children's secure-base behavior at home in three sociocultural groups Authors: Vaughn, Brian E; Coppola, Gabrielle; Verissimo, Manuela; Monteiro, Lígia; Santos, António J.; Posada, German; Carbonell, Olga A.; Plata, Sandra J.; Waters, Harriet S.; Bost, Kelly K.; McBride, Brent; Shin, Nana; Korth, Bryan Abstract: The secure-base phenomenon is central to the Bowlby/Ainsworth theory of attachment and is also central to the assessment of attachment across the lifespan. The present study tested whether mothers’ knowledge about the secure-base phenomenon, as assessed using a recently designed wordlist prompt measure for eliciting attachment-relevant stories, would predict their children’s securebase behavior, as assessed by observers in the home and summarized with the Attachment Q-set (AQS). In each of three sociocultural groups (from Colombia, Portugal, and the US), scores characterizing the quality of maternal secure-base narratives elicited using the word-list prompt procedure were internally consistent, as indicated by tests of cross-story reliability, and they were positively and significantly associated with the child’s security score from the AQS for each subsample. The correlation in the combined sample was r(129) = .33, p < .001. Subsequent analyses with the combined sample evaluated the AQS item-correlates of the secure-base script score. These analyses showed that mothers whose stories indicate that they have access to and use a positive secure-base script in their story production have children who treat them as a “secure base” at home. These results suggest that a core feature of adult attachment models, in each of the three sociocultural groups studied, is access to a secure-base script. Additional results from the study indicate that cross-language translations of the maternal narratives can receive valid, reliable scores even when evaluated by non-native speakers.

Emotional context, maternal behavior and emotion regulation

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Emotional context, maternal behavior and emotion regulation Authors: Roque, Lisa; Veríssimo, Manuela Abstract: This study investigated the importance of emotion-eliciting context (positive and negative) and mother’s behaviors (constrained and involved) on toddlers’ emotion regulation behavioral strategies, emotional expressiveness and intensity, during three episodes eliciting fear, frustration/anger and positive affect. Fifty-five children between 18 and 26 months of age and their mothers participated in the study. Toddlers’ regulatory strategies varied as function of emotion-eliciting context (children exhibited behavioral strategies more frequently during positive affect and frustration/anger episodes and less frequently during fear episodes) and maternal involvement. Toddlers’ expression of emotion varied as function of emotion-eliciting context (children exhibited more emotional expressions, both negative and positive during fear and frustration/anger episodes compared to positive affect episodes). Toddlers’ expression of emotion was not strongly related to maternal involvement, however, the intensity of emotional expression was related to the interaction of context and maternal involvement.