Search

Bottle refusal by breastfed babies is a scenario that has received surprisingly little attention in the literature, given the number of mothers who appear to be experiencing it globally and the subsequent negative impact it can have. In line with this, we undertook a study to explore mothers' views on why their breastfed baby refuses to bottle feed. A parallel, two-stage, exploratory qualitative design was employed using 30 semi-structured interviews and 597 online forum posts. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis, and a biopsychosocial model was applied resulting in four overarching themes being identified: 'Breastfeeding is the answer to everything....' 'Bottle feeding: an alien concept... 'Babies are individuals' and 'Find the right bottle and don't delay'. The psychological benefits of breastfeeding, not inherent in bottle feeding, appeared to underpin some mothers' views on their baby's refusal. Other mothers explained refusal as being down to a baby's biological expectation to be fed by the breast; therefore, bottle feeding was not a normal concept to them. A baby's individual personality and temperament were also suggested as contributing to the scenario and refusal was linked to babies disliking a certain brand of bottle and being introduced to it 'too late'. This study's findings point to a complex, multifactorial picture underpinning bottle refusal by breastfed babies, which transcends physical, psychological and biological concepts, and is influenced by socio-cultural norms surrounding infant feeding. Recognition of these contributing factors is needed to aid those supporting mothers experiencing the scenario and, importantly, to underpin mothers' decision-making around managing it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the little big-five inventory, we developed a technique to estimate children's personalities through their interaction with a tele-operated childcare robot. For personality estimation, our approach observed not only distance-based but also face-image-based features when a robot interacted with a child at a close distance. We used only the robot's sensors to track the child's positions, detect its eye contact, and estimate how much it smiled. We collected data from a kindergarten, where each child individually interacted for 30 min with a robot that was controlled by the teachers. We used 29 datasets of the interaction between a child and the robot to investigate whether face-image-based features improved the performance of personality estimation. The evaluation results demonstrated that the face-image-based features significantly improved the performance of personality estimation, and the accuracy of the personality estimation of our system was 70% on average for the personality scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locus of control is one of the most widely studied concepts in the history of personality psychology. In spite of its popularity and its associations with numerous relevant outcomes, the ability of locus of control to predict future behaviors involving parenting effectiveness has been under researched. The few parent locus of control children's outcome studies are characterized by cross-sectional methodologies that focus on mothers. The present study uses a prospective methodology to compare data on mothers' and fathers' locus of control with their child's behavior outcomes from a large scale research project, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Based on Rotter's Social Learning Theory published in 1954 and past empirical research, it was predicted and found that parent internality was associated with more positive child outcomes than parent externality. More specifically, when both parents were internal, their children had more positive outcomes in sleeping, eating, and tantrum behavior as compared to any other parent locus of control combination. However external parents had a less restrictive attitude which appeared to have a more beneficial effect on picky eating. Results confirmed how important parent locus of control is in the lives of children. Based on the findings, researchers are urged to develop interventions to change advice to parents and promote more internal locus of control among parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life offers the recommended best start in the life for a newborn baby. Yet, in Australia only a small number of babies receive breast milk exclusively for the first 6 months. Reasons for the introduction of formula milk are multi‐factorial including access to appropriate support and the woman's experience of breastfeeding. The language and practices of health professionals can impact upon how a woman feels about breastfeeding and her breastfeeding body. One aspect of breastfeeding support that has had scarce attention in the literature is the language used by health professionals to describe the behaviour of the breastfeeding infant during the early establishment phase of breastfeeding. This paper reveals some of the ways in which midwives, lactation consultants and breastfeeding women describe the newborn baby during the first week after birth. The study was conducted at two maternity units in New South Wales. Interactions between midwives and breastfeeding women were observed and audio recorded on the post‐natal ward and in women's homes, in the first week after birth. The transcribed data were analysed using discourse analysis searching for recurring words, themes and metaphors used in descriptions of the breastfeeding baby. Repeated negative references to infant personality and unfavourable interpretations of infant behaviour influenced how women perceived their infant. The findings revealed that positive language and interpretations of infant breastfeeding behaviour emerged from more relationship‐based communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pedagogická Orientace is the property of Pedagogicka Orientace and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Special Education & Rehabilitation / Defektološka Teorija i Praktika is the property of Institute of Special Education & Rehabilitation and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between gender and the temperamental characteristics of children between the ages of five and six, as well as to assess their behavioural problems. The sample included 128 children selected by simple random sampling from 5-6 year old children, receiving preschool education in the city centre of İzmir province in Turkey. Of the children, 65 were girls (50.8%) and 63 (49.2%) were boys. The data collection instruments were the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales and the Short Temperament Scale for Children, respectively. The results of this study reveal that there is no significiant difference between gender and the child temperament subscales of approach/withdrawal; persistence and rhythmicity; and a child's behavioural problems, respectively. However, the gender of the children was found to be significantly related to the reactivity sub-dimension of their temperament (p < 0.05). Moreover, a significant correlation was observed between the temperament subscale of reactivity and externalising problems subscale of behavioural problems (p < 0.05). On the other hand, a negative correlation was observed between the persistence temperament dimension and the behavioural problem dimension of self-centredness (p < 0.05). In the opinion of the researcher, it is important to know the children's personality features, monitor their behaviour, and take respective measures when necessary. These research results contributed positively to this end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pedagogical vocation of Dimitrie Cantemir is less known than that of a scholar and politician. Our aim is to analyze the pedagogical virtues of his personality, more precisely, his conception of the manner in which children's education is to be carried out, the steps of this important process in developing the human personality. It is also remarkable that a thinker with an encyclopaedic background, having the propensity to universality, pleads for a profoundly Christian education of children, somehow leaving us to understand that all knowledge becomes meaningful if there is there is this paideutic foundation underlying the children's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pedagogical vocation of Dimitrie Cantemir is less known than that of a scholar and politician. Our aim is to analyze the pedagogical virtues of his personality, more precisely, his conception of the manner in which children's education is to be carried out, the steps of this important process in developing the human personality. It is also remarkable that a thinker with an encyclopaedic background, having the propensity to universality, pleads for a profoundly Christian education of children, somehow leaving us to understand that all knowledge becomes meaningful if there is there is this paideutic foundation underlying the children's development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Elementary Education / Revija za Elementarno Izobraževanje is the property of University of Maribor, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ciencias Psicológicas is the property of Universidad Catolica del Uruguay Damaso Antonio Larranaga and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aim To examine how the experience of genocide in Srebrenica in the early childhood (ages 1-5) influences the psychological health in adolescence. Methods This study included 100 school-attending adolescents, age 15-16 (born in 1990-91) who were divided in two groups according to the place of residence from 1992-1995: the Srebrenica group - adolescents who lived in Srebrenica during the siege and the non-Srebrenica group who lived in the "free territory," were not wounded, and experienced no losses. We used the socio-demographic questionnaire created for the purposes of our study and the War Trauma Questionnaire, Posttraumatic Stress Reactions Questionnaire, Self-report Depressive Scale (Zung), Freiburg Personality Inventory, and the Lifestyle Questionnaire. Results Srebrenica adolescents experienced significantly more traumatic experiences (14.26 ± 3.11 vs 4.86 ± 3.16, P < 0.001). Although there was no significant difference in the total score of posttraumatic stress reactions and intensity of depression between the two groups, significantly higher scores of posttraumatic stress reaction were noticed for several specific questions. The most prominent defense mechanisms in both groups were projection, intellectualization, and reactive formation. Srebrenica adolescents had higher sociability levels (34.7% vs 16.0%, χ2 = 7.231, P = 0.020). Conclusion Srebrenica adolescents reported significantly more severe PTSD symptoms and significantly greater sociability. Our findings could be used for planning treatment and improving communication and overcoming traumas in war-affected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impairment of intelligence in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients was described by Duchenne de Boulogne himself in 1868. Further studies report intelligence disorders with mayor impairment of memory. The aim of the present study was to assess the presence of affective and personality disorders in a group of children affected by DMD. Twenty six male DMD patients, mean age eleven and four months years old, were assessed for their affective and personality disorder. Only eight subjects had a total IQ below average with major difficulties in verbal and visual-spatial memory, comprehension, arithmetic and vocabulary. All the subjects presented some disorders: tendency to marginalization and isolation, self-depreciation, sense of insecurity, hypochondriac thoughts and marked state of anxiety. These disorders are often a dynamic prolongation of a psychological process which starts when the diagnosis is made and continues, in a slow and latent fashion, throughout the evolution of the disease [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given existing gendered stereotypic assumptions regarding shyness and children's school competencies, this study explored relations among socioemotional competencies, self-perceptions, and receptive vocabulary in shy children. Ninety-one Canadian children (52 girls, 39 boys; 5-8 years) were classified as shy (n = 26) based on teachers' behavioural ratings (n = 8), and completed selfperception and vocabulary measures. Compared to their non-shy peers, shy children reported lower levels of self-worth, and were rated by their teachers as more aggressive. Shy girls scored the lowest on the vocabulary task, and received the highest teacher emotional competence ratings. Shy boys scored the highest on the vocabulary task, and received the lowest emotionally competence ratings. Gender-role stereotypes and shyness and their educational implications are discussed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At pre-school age, children experience an unprecedented development on all personality levels, by widening and complicating the relationship with the environment, based on the requirements of activity and communication. Therefore, children face a rapid development of speech and thinking. The development of speech is determined by the evolution of thinking, which at its turn contributes to the assimilation of different aspects of language and vocabulary. In our study, we try to show to which extend a bilingual environment favours the speech enhancement at preschoolers, contributing to the development of several opportunities such as the development of linguistic creativity, of cognitive processes, facilitation of third language enhancement. In this respect, we have carried out a comparative study between the level of speech development at preschoolers in a bilingual and a monolingual environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the continuous amplification of the unit between psychocentrism and sociocentrism generated by the psychological and sociological curriculum substantiation, the current social pedagogy paradigm defines and analyzes education from the perspective of social requirements, having as its general function the optimization of the relationships between school and community, with consistent applications at the family level (family pedagogy). Family pedagogy as a research direction and social pedagogic action answers parents' need to be helped in educating their children as better as possible. The quality of a "good parent" requires effort and specialty training, continuous improvement and self-improvement, and is based on science, on competence and skill, supposing even a certain vocation. This study valorizes the perceptions, representations, motivations and attitudes of experts with a rich experience and serious concerns in supporting the educative function of family, interested in making parents responsible and involving them in their own shaping to change family practices and optimize parental behaviors in favor of the harmonious development of children's personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two kinds of parental behaviors-psychological control and emotional warmth- have been linked with children's shy behaviors. The questions we addressed are whether this applies to adolescent shyness, and whether shyness in itself might also affect perceptions of parental behaviors. The participants were 916 seventh to ninth graders in a longitudinal project. We used a cross-lagged panel model with three time points in MPlus with adolescents' self-reports of shyness and perceptions of parents' psychological control (intrusive control and rejection) and warmth. Shyness predicted an increase in perceptions of intrusive control by parents at Time 2, which then predicted an increase in shyness at Time 3. Shyness also predicted an increase in perceived rejection by parents at Time 2. Finally, shyness predicted decreases in parental warmth at both time points. The effects did not differ for boys and girls. These results show that adolescent shyness predicts parental behaviors, though perhaps less strongly than in childhood. They also suggest some bidirectional effects in which perceived parental responses to shy youths might serve to strengthen the shyness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alberta Journal of Educational Research is the property of Alberta Journal of Educational Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of McGill Journal of Education is the property of McGill Journal of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

According to cross-temporal meta-analyses (Twenge, 2000, 2001), social trends over the last decades have powerfully influenced the personality profiles of children and students, with effects accounting for 20% of the variance of Neuroticism and Extraversion. However, Trzesniewski and Donnellan (2010, this issue), who examined a large and representative U.S. high-school student sample, found little evidence of secular trends. In this commentary, I emphasize the distinction between cohort and period effects and review findings from longitudinal and cross-cultural studies on the role of social trends and other cultural influences on personality traits. Analyses of adult personality scores from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging provide little support for powerful secular effects on Neuroticism and Extraversion; evidence supports a secular trend of declining trust, along with additional small effects on other facets of personality. Analyses of personality scores from around the world suggest that social and cultural differences account for about 5% of the variance on major dimensions of personality. The integration of findings from multiple perspectives provides useful insights into the role of the environment on personality traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread or restlessness and can develop into a weight-related disorder. The objective was to analyze the psychometric properties of the trait anxiety subscale of the Physical Appearance State and Trait Anxiety Scale (PASTAS), as well as the invariance in Mexican preadolescents. The sample consisted of 604 participants, 285 female and 319 male, whose ages ranged between 11 and 12 years (M = 11.37; SD = 0.48). The questionnaire's factor structure was analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses. The analyses show the viability and adequacy of a two-factor structure (weight and non-weight factors) both for the total sample and for the populations of male and female. The two-factor structure showed adequate reliability and validity fit indicators. The factor structure, the factor loadings and intercepts are considered invariant according to the variable sex; however, differences between female and male participants were found for levels of anxiety caused by physical appearance. In conclusion, the PASTAS can be considered a convenient instrument to assess the variables related to anxiety generated by one's physical appearance, as well as allowing more participants to be quickly assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly 25 years ago, Allen-Meares and Lane appraised the status of adaptive behavior assessments in use at the time, citing their usefulness and relevance to the overall assessment of school children. This article revisits those instruments and examines select current instruments to gauge whether they include the multicultural sensitivity required to fairly assess the growing diverse populations of school children. Many of the popular adaptive behavior assessment instruments have not been normed with a wide array of racial groups or with cultural considerations in mind. This leads to suggestions of how social workers in particular may ensure that referred students are assessed fairly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's personality traits have enduring effects that shape adult well-being. In particular, childhood conscientiousness influences core aspects of adult well-being: health, friendships, and mastery. Research is now examining the mechanisms by which early personality traits initiate and sustain particular life paths. These include mediating and moderating mechanisms that may operate during critical developmental periods or may build cumulatively over time. Future research would benefit from testing theoretically derived mechanisms for different traits and examining variables as they change over time, using both short- and long-term longitudinal designs over different life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on three studies of shy behavior in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N= 107, Mage = 10.05), a Chinese Shyness Scale (CSS) was developed based on Chinese teachers' open-ended descriptions of children's shy behavior. In Study 2 (N= 388, Mage = 10.80) and Study 3 (N= 198, Mage = 10.20), the construct validity of the two forms of shyness that emerged in Study 1 (i.e., anxious shyness and regulated shyness) were examined in relation to children's social preference, temperament, and psychosocial adjustment. A distinct pattern of results was found for anxious shyness and regulated shyness. The findings highlight the role of culture in shaping expression of children's shy behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights a three-point screening tool to identify whether a shy patient is suffering from social anxiety disorder. This tool assesses whether the patient's fear of embarrassment causes him or her to avoid speaking to people, whether he or she avoid activities in which he or she is the center of attention or whether looking stupid is one of his or her worst fears. Social anxiety differs from shyness in children in its ability to debilitate the child's ability to grow and develop socially in an appropriate manner.

The goal of this study was to explore kindergarten teachers' attitudes and beliefs toward hypothetical children who frequently displayed certain types of behaviors with peers in the classroom. Participants were 202 kindergarten teachers from 4 provinces in Canada. Teachers responded to hypothetical vignettes describing children exhibiting shy, unsociable, aggressive, and prosocial behaviors. Beliefs assessed included teachers' tolerances of the behaviors, their behavioral attributions, the estimated academic and social costs to the child as a result of these behaviors, and teachers' responses to each hypothetical child. Teachers reported unique patterns of beliefs and responses toward each of the different types of children described. Not surprisingly, results indicated that teachers had the harshest beliefs toward the aggressive children. However, teachers also clearly distinguished between hypothetical children who were shy versus unsociable, whereas previous research has confounded these behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of the links between teacher beliefs/responses and child socioemotional adjustment at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I analyze longitudinal case studies of five Chinese families to account for the tensions underlying widespread Chinese discourses about the unsatisfactory personalities and behaviors of children born under China's one-child policy. I argue that these tensions result from a mismatch between the simple values of excellence, independence, obedience, caring/sociableness that Chinese parents tell their children to abide by and the more complex, difficult-to-conceive, and difficult-to-articulate cultural models Chinese parents actually want their children to develop. This dissonance arises for a number of reasons: (1) The values at stake are often mutually contradictory; (2) Parents have difficulty identifying and articulating the situated cultural models they want their children to use to match values to contexts; (3) Children fail to understand and internalize the complex cultural models their parents want them to develop; and (4) Parents' desires to transmit their own cultural models to their children conflict with their desires for children to develop superior cultural models that would enable them to attain upward mobility. Chinese singletons' inability to meet their parents' expectations should thus be seen not merely as a result of the singleton status popular Chinese discourses often blamed for the younger generation's failings but also as a result of their status (shared with many other children worldwide) as rapidly developing children in a rapidly changing world. My findings suggest that studies of cultural models should pay more attention to discrepancies between verbal glosses and the conceptual complexity of the cultural models underlying them, and to the transformations that occur in the process of internalizing and integrating diverse sources of social information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personality characteristics of the intellectually gifted living under poverty conditions are described, following the Rorschach Psychodiagnostic test. Participants were 55 boys and girls (27 intellectual gifted, 28 non-gifted), age range 9-12, previously selected with the Multi-factorial model of giftedness for a former study. Results revealed that the intellectually gifted children exhibit the following personality characteristics: (a) tendency to approach situations from personal reflections; (b) sophisticated emotional resources; (c) high levels of initiative and creativity; (d) tendency to perfectionism; (e) need to control situations; (f) unconventionality; (h) high levels of sensibility; (i) oppositeness, as well as (j) insight resources. They also exhibit characteristics expected in poverty contexts such as cautiousness and low level of self-confidence, high levels of stress and alert towards the environment, as well as tendency to depression. Recommendations for intervention purposes are given, as well as the need to develop research lines from a multidisciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the long-term predictive validity of person-centered personality types and variable-centered personality dimensions assessed between ages 4-6 years in a population sample of 154 children. Results indicated that the predictive power of both approaches was remarkably robust between age 17 and 22, and even increased in the case of aggressiveness. At age 22 the long-term predictive ability of both types and dimensions was about equal, both in terms of the multivariate percentage of explained variance and the number of significant Iongitudinal correlates. This pattern is consistent with the notion that personality types and variables represent core personality domains that predict a wide range of Iongitudinal outcomes. However, the predictive ability of both approaches was larger for personality traits and intelligence than for social relationships outcomes. Implications for the distinction between core and surface traits are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article features Elizabeth Gurney Fry, a history maker in the field of correctional education. Gurney was the third among the twelve siblings of a well-off family in Norwich, England. As a child she was shy with delicate health and sporadically experienced depression with the death of her mother, she was obligated to guide her younger sisters and brothers but luckily, her mother has insisted on giving her education which prepare her to do whatever she wants in life. Inspired by William Savery's story, who is also a wealthy Quaker tanner, she was converted spiritually. It was the start of her Bible reading, visiting the sick and teaching poor children. At 20 she married Joseph Fry, a wealthy tea merchant who supported her in her chosen career.

Four studies examined whether Israeli 5-year-olds ( N=88) and adults ( N=48) drew inferences about psychological properties based on a character's social category, personality trait, or physical appearance trait. Study 1 revealed that while children drew inferences mostly by social category, adults did it by personality trait. Study 2 showed that the children's pattern was not due to how the categorical information was conveyed. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that for kindergarteners, labels, not appearances, are determinant of the inductive potential of social categories. Studies indicated that “Jew” and “Arab” were the most inductively powerful social categories for both children and adults. The results carry implications for the roles of language, appearances, and culture in the conceptualization of “human kinds.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reactions, and coping strategies of shy/withdrawn and aggressive girls and boys and to examine whether such social cognitions differ within the relationship context of friendship. Drawn from a sample of fifth and sixth graders (M age = 10.79 years; SD = .77), 78 shy/withdrawn, 76 aggressive, and 85 control children were presented with hypothetical social situations that first involved unfamiliar peers, and then a mutual good friend. Results revealed group and gender differences and similarities, depending on the relationship context. From our findings emerges a central message: friends' involvement during interpersonal challenges or stressors mitigates children's attributions, emotions, and coping responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue is about the importance of personality in children. The articles locus on areas that are increasingly being investigated which highlight how personality is related to important developmental adjustment patterns. Examples of both person-level typologies and variable-centered analyses show how important it is to consider individual differences in children when describing development over the life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this special issue illustrate four of the major questions currently being addressed in personality development research: What childhood traits are the antecedents of adult personality? How are children's personalities manifest in particular contexts? Do childhood personality traits predict the development of psychopathology? Are there distinctive personality types among children and adolescents? The articles not only yield new answers to these questions but also point to the need to understand more about the processes through which personality shapes the course of youths' lives. An important focus for future work in this area will be the exploration of how positive life outcomes can be achieved by youths with widely varied personalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary I make three points. First, the four articles presented in this special issue are critical examples of the viability and importance of the idea of childhood personality. Second, 1 identify several concerns, including the narrow scope of the study of childhood personality, the lack of focus on environmental factors that might facilitate development in childhood personality, and the conceptual overlap between measures of childhood personality and outcomes such as externalizing behavior. Third, I recommend that the gap between childhood and adult personality be bridged more systematically so that we can detail the path of development across the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohort-sequential latent growth modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data for children's externalizing behavior from four overlapping age cohorts (4, 5, 6, and 7 years at first assessment) measured at three annual time points. The data included mother and father ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist and the Five-Factor Personality Inventory and teacher ratings on the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children of 674 children of a proportional stratified general population sample. Results indicated a significant nonlinear decline in problem behavior from ages 4 to 9. Child benevolence was negatively related to initial levels of problem behavior. Higher scores on emotional stability in children corresponded to larger reductions of problem behavior over time. Parents' conscientiousness and emotional stability were negatively related to initial levels of externalizing problem behavior. At the age of 4 years, boys had higher initial scores than girls, but boys and girls followed a similar developmental trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-regulation is critical to social and personality development in all cultures. Self-regulation may have developmental origins in temperament, yet it also interacts with socialization processes. This research specifically probes children's self-regulation during resistance to temptation. Socialization of self-regulation may be influenced by the way adults communicate rules about cheating. The impact of adult communications will interact, however, with personality characteristics of the child receiving the message. When adult messages stress matching performance to standards (conscientiousness), then different children will cheat than when adult messages stress maintaining positive social relations (agreeableness). Children (N = 371) were placed in a testing situation to assess resistance to temptation. After completing ratings on the Big Five dimensions of personality, children were randomly assigned to one of three message conditions. Resistance was related to adult communication and to personality. Outcomes were discussed in terms of socialization of self-regulation and the differential activation of motive systems by adult communications about cheating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of a data analysis intended to examine the relationship between children's personality, maternal beliefs and childrearing behaviour and various disabilities on the one hand (mildly, moderate or severe mental handicap, sensorial handicap, developmental disabilities) and mothers' educational level on the other. Data were taken from 102 mothers of disabled children between the ages of three and six. The children came from the Walloon Region of Belgium and were regularly counselled by an early intervention team (Services d'Aide Précoce -- SAP). Variance analyses were performed on questionnaire data from the total sample (n=102). The questionnaires were based on the Five Factor Model of personality rating (Roskam, de Maere-Gaudissart, & Vandenplas-Holper, 2000), and on Sameroff's levels of parental development for the rating of maternal beliefs. Factorial correspondence analyses were also performed on maternal self-reported childrearing behaviour as described in 50 interviews with mothers, analysed with a coding grid. The results confirm that the child's disability contribute to changing maternal beliefs about personality and development as well as it may be considered as a main source of a change in the maternal directiveness. The results also confirm that the complexity of the mothers' explanatory models about child's development vary according to their educational level. Furthermore, while earlier studies were comparisons with a broad ranging sample, the present one explore comparisons between several disabilities. Contrary to most of the previous studies, it doesn't focus only on directiveness but also on other subcategories of the mothers' childrearing behaviour. Finally, several results here presented need future research. They are in favour of the relation between mother's educational level and childrearing behaviour while previous ones were much debated. They have also shown that general subcategories were not sufficient to describe mothers' childrearing behaviour. More complex dimensions have been extracted from the analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a longitudinal design, we investigated the relation of childhood personality type to volunteering during adolescence. We hypothesized that participants with more adaptive personality functioning during childhood would be more likely to volunteer during adolescence and that membership in social organizations would mediate the relation of personality to volunteering during adolescence. Participants from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) with complete data measures for the four time periods of study were categorized into one of three personality types during early childhood. Children assigned to the resilient personality type were more likely than children characterized by the overcontrolled and undercontrolled personality types to volunteer 8 and 10 years later in adolescence. Analyses demonstrated that the association of childhood personality to adolescent volunteering is not mediated by late-childhood membership in social institutions that may facilitate entry into volunteering. The findings are interpreted in terms of their implications for understanding personality and prosocial behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present study was to explore the role of expressive vocabulary as a moderator in the relation between shyness and maladjustment in early child- hood. Participants were 82 preschool children (39 males, 43 females). Mothers rated children's shyness at the start of the preschool year. Children were inter- viewed individually to assess expressive vocabulary and self-perceptions. Near the end of the school year, teachers completed ratings of child adjustment. No significant relation was found between shyness and expressive vocabulary. However, shyness and expressive vocabulary were Found to interact in the prediction of indices of maladjustment. Specifically, increased expressive vocabulary appeared to act as a buffer against certain negative outcomes related to shyness. Implications are discussed in terms of the possible effect of social con- text on shy children's performance on formal language assessments, as well as the potential role of verbal abilities in the coping skills of shy children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To describe quality of life (QoL) of children surviving cancer in relation to their personality, using self- and maternal reports and examining differences with healthy referents. Method Sixty-seven children who survived childhood cancer were compared with eighty-one healthy children on QoL and personality characteristics. Results Children who survived cancer reported higher QoL than healthy children, whereas there were no differences for personality. Two main effects emerged for informant with children rating themselves as less neurotic and more conscientious than their mothers. The correspondence between mothers and children was substantially higher for survivors for QoL and personality ratings. QoL and trait measures share substantial variance, and personality traits significantly predict QoL. Parental personality ratings explained child QoL beyond children's personality ratings. Conclusions Personality traits contribute to quality of life, indicating that personality significantly influences child's quality of life beyond the experience of a negative life event such as surviving cancer and its treatment. From a diagnostic perspective, parental trait ratings are informative in addition to children's ratings of personality to understand children's QoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has long been concern about underidentification or misidentification of children with emotional or behavioral disorders in special education, recent attention has also been focused on disproportionate racial and ethnic representation of children in the school category of emotional disturbance (ED). There is evidence that African American children may be overidentified in the ED category while Asian and Hispanic children may be underidentified, although these findings are not consistent from sample to sample. In this study, the authors examined parental beliefs about the causes of their child's problems as a potential partial mediator between race or ethnicity and special education identification for emotional disturbance. The sample of 1,019 children was drawn from a larger study of at-risk youths who were active in at least one of five public sectors of care. In this sample, parental explanatory etiologies relating to personality and relational issues were found to account for part of the racial or ethnic differences in ED service use for Latino and Asian American/Pacific Islander children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that examined the personality types of six-year-old children. Associations of the personality types with academic achievement and behavior; Methodology; Identification and distribution of the personality types.

Presents a study that examined the interactions among personality types, stress and participation in Head Start, the national preschool intervention program in the U.S. Methodology; Background of the Head Start program; Relation of personality types with academic achievement.

Discusses the results of a study on the personality and development in children. Types of personality in children; Relation between personality and behavior; Importance of the personality typology for understanding the life course of children.

Presents a study that investigated the precursors to personality types and behavior in children. Methodology; Analysis of the stability and transitions of personality types; Association of risk factors on personality transformation in early childhood.

Investigates the relation of personality types to the growth and decline of academic achievement of children. Effect of personality type on intellectual developmental; Role of personality in academic growth; Impact of behavior problems in academic development.