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With considerable debate concerning the impact of culture on the expression of callous–unemotional (CU) traits, it is unclear whether the core features of CU traits generalize to youth across cultures. This study aimed to examine whether cultural differences are reflected in the core features of CU traits and the associations among these features. Network analysis was employed to identify the core features and to examine the network structure of CU traits operationalized by the Inventory of Callous Unemotional traits (ICU) in four community youth samples from different nations (Australia, N = 190; the UK, N = 437; the USA, N = 330; China, N = 503). The item "Apologizes to people" was identified as a cross-cultural core feature in the ICU network with a greater centrality of this item compared to others in all four samples. In addition, some items were identified as culture-specific core features in the network, differing in their centrality across samples. The network structures of the youth self-report ICU items were moderately similar across samples, while the structures of parent-report items showed substantial differences. These findings have important implications for cross-cultural research on CU traits as well as practical implications for screening and treatment. The core features of ICU appear to be generalizable in youth across cultures, although cultural-specific manifestations should be noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental perspectives recognize the importance of the development of impulsivity and sensation seeking for later life educational attainment. The current study examines the effect of developmental trajectories of impulsivity and sensation seeking across adolescence and into young adulthood on educational attainment in adulthood. The study sample consists of N = 5529 youth from a population-based sample from the United States (48.96% female; 46.95% Black or Hispanic). Latent growth curve models are used to examine associations between within-individual changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking and educational attainment. The findings point to the existence of multiple forms of risk taking during different developmental stages, with some offering a positive long-term effect on overall educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims Among US high school students, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are associated with numerous concurrent and future harms. We tested whether multiple elementary school personality dispositions to behave impulsively can predict these addictive behaviors invariably across gender and race. Design and Setting This longitudinal design involved testing whether individual differences on impulsigenic traits in elementary school predicted drinking and smoking 4 years later in high school in 23 public schools in Kentucky, USA. Participants A total of 1897 youth, mean age 10.33 at wave 1, drawn from urban, rural and suburban backgrounds. Measurements Drinking and smoking frequency were assessed by single-item questions. The key predictors were impulsigenic traits measured with the UPPS-P Child Version impulsive behavior scale. Important covariates included were pubertal status, depression, negative affect and positive affect; each was assessed by self-report. Findings Three personality traits measured in 5th grade, each representing different dispositions to engage in impulsive behavior, predicted drinking and smoking in 9th grade above and beyond other risk factors and 5th grade drinking and smoking. Specifically, urgency ( b = 0.10, 0.13), sensation-seeking ( b = 0.13, 0.07) and low conscientiousness ( b = 0.14, 0.11) each uniquely predicted both high school drinking and smoking, respectively. There was no evidence that any trait predicted either outcome more strongly than the other traits, nor was there evidence that predictive results varied by gender or race. Conclusions Three personality traits (urgency, sensation-seeking and low conscientiousness), when measured in 11-year-old children, predict those children's drinking and smoking behavior individually at age 15. The effects are invariant across gender and race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

One of the world's richest collections of teacher descriptions of elementary-school children was obtained by John M. Digman from 1959 to 1967 in schools on two Hawaiian islands. In six phases of data collection, 88 teachers described 2,572 of their students, using one of five different sets of personality variables. The present report provides findings from new analyses of these important data, which have never before been analyzed in a comprehensive manner. When factors developed from carefully selected markers of the Big-Five factor structure were compared to those based on the total set of variables in each sample, the congruence between both types of factors was quite high. Attempts to extend the structure to 6 and 7 factors revealed no other broad factors beyond the Big Five in any of the 6 samples. These robust findings provide significant new evidence for the structure of teacher-based assessments of child personality attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plethora of research on the employed mother by social scientists during the past decade is a collective reaction to popular beliefs concerning the motivations and consequential effects of mothers' working outside of the home for remuneration. Defeminization, family instability, rejection of children, creation of juvenile delinquents, loss of intimate emotional relationships with children, distorted personality development of children, and poor school performance by children are a few examples of perceived consequences of a mother's working away from home. It is maintained that maternal employment is a basic social change in American society. A research question is a relationship of maternal employment to changes in other social systems. Another researchable problem is the relationship of child bearing and child rearing activities to the mother's adjustment regarding occupational discontinuity and continuity. The mother's working is no longer considered a deviant form of behavior in large segments of American society.

Chapter 7 of the book "Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development" is presented. It presents the methodological aspects of a longitudinal study of personality and behavior development in a normal group of children in the U.S. It reveals that the relationship of a child to himself is based on clinical judgments from summarized findings by age as well as by environmental changes. Teachers' judgments of first grade children shows little difference in social adjustment.

This article discusses a study which investigated certain social, linguistics, and achievement characteristics of a group of shy, uncommunicative children in the middle grades of a suburban school district in the U.S. The study is based on the researcher's clinical experience, which suggests that the shy child has areas of deficiency other than oral communication. The procedure for conducting the study is stated.

The article explores the functions of arts in the elementary school setting in the U.S. Such functions include the appreciation of art, satisfying creative drives, expressing personality development, understanding a complex array of cultures, as well as providing safe catharsis and therapy for normal and handicapped children. On the other hand, fostering the child for pattern awareness and beauty has been sought as the school's primary responsibility.

The article reports on various non-school-related factors that affect learning capabilities among children with normal intelligence in the U.S. Such factors include mental malfunctioning, emotional and personality factors, as well as the physical condition of children. For these reasons, educational research have been conducted for the preparation of better methods in developing techniques to increase provisions for differences in educational level and learning rate.

The article presents a study which aims to determine the personality resemblance between exceptional children and their mothers in the U.S. Computations were made on the means and standard deviations for each of the scores on the California Test of Personality. It was found out that exceptional children in the study were high in sense of personal freedom, self-reliance, and community relations, but low in social skills, freedom from antisocial tendencies, and school relations.

The focus of this article is to report whatever personality and attitudinal differences result from a comparison of a group of Israeli 10-year olds, residing in rural areas, with a similar sample of children from the U.S. The ages of the children examined ranged from nine years, six months to 11 years, three months. The American sample consisted of 52 fourth-and fifth-grade children from rural Michigan. The Israeli sample, which was used as a control group in testing some psychodynamic hypotheses with Kibbutz children, consisted of 45 subjects drawn from several small villages. The samples were about evenly divided as to sex; there were 26 boys and 26 girls in the American sample, and 24 boys and 21 girls in the Israeli one. No significant differences in age and intelligence were obtained. The Sentence Completion Test was administered in groups as part of a larger battery of tests. The incomplete sentences appeared on a mimeographed sheet with ample blank space left over for completion. The youngsters with reading difficulties were particularly handicapped and were unable to complete the entire test within the allotted time of 50 minutes.

The article provides information on the recognition of personality difficulties among school children in the U.S. It has been found out that most maladjustment evidences have taken roots since childhood. Furthermore, the recognition of the child's type of divergence has been sought to be more significant in stabilizing world progress through intensive training on socialization. In connection, various academic and emotional causes of maladjustment cases of school children have been offered.

The data presented describe personality characteristics of ninth-grade school children residing in various regions of Minnesota. The groups were selected from a population of more than 15,000 participants in a study of social and psychological adjustment. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was used for determining the personality characteristics. The children were classified by the size of the community in which they resided. Three residential classifications were employed: urban, town, and rural. The findings indicate that several personality scales of the MMPI differentiate children of larger communities from children of rural areas. The results suggest the existence of rural-urban personality differences and the nature of these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Community-wide family life institute held recently in Florence, South Carolina, called forth a response of unusual proportions. Twelve hundred fifty persons enrolled in a one-week institute based on small-group discussions followed by a featured address on some aspect of family living. This article is a simple recording of the facts of what one community did to strengthen its family life, how the institute came about, the results, and what was learned from the experience. Concerns of those in early teens included questions about the art of dating, when to start, what to do, whether to permit a good-night kiss. Older girls asked more sophisticated questions, showing more concern with the depth of relationships and serious planning toward marriage. The parents of young children wanted to know how to respond to anxious, shy, fearful and insecure children and how to deal with such problems as rivalry, jealousy and temper tantrums. Senior adults were interested in what could be done about some of their typical problems of resisting change, becoming resentful, and tending to withdraw from social life.

A list of figures used in the study concerning the assessment of the children's personality and behavior development in the U.S. is presented. It features a figure that highlights the constancy of mental test performance among the individual children. Another figure shows the constancy of their weight and height sigma scores. The figure about the age level frequency for restlessness in sleep and dreams is also included.

A list of tables used in the study concerning the assessment of children's personality and behavior development in the U.S. is presented. It presents a table about personal, home and family data collected in the guidance and control groups from birth through eight years. Another table shows the constancy of mental test performance by intercorrelations. There is also a table that reflects the relation of child's mental test score to the education of their parents.

The article offers the seven additional suggestions for teachers to give the highest service to their pupils in the U.S. It includes the practice of drill procedures as a way to develop the mind and personality of children, the use of democratic organizations which stimulates leadership among children involving election and the function of officers and committees, and learn to understand and appreciate children's ideas as part of their conduct and character formation.

The article presents several notes from various personalities related to education in the U.S. Massachusetts Superintendent A. L. Barbour notes that one of the greatest mistakes that children must learn to overcome is the indefiniteness of aim in study. Superintendent John F. Lamont of Wisconsin points that the county schools will never be a success until they are incharge of teachers prepared for their special work. W. W. Chalmers adds that students must learn to trust people.

The article discusses the author's experience of meeting a timid child named Melvin, who is a first grader in an isolated, one-teacher rural school in the U.S. The author points out that the children in this rural school were particularly shy due to their limited contacts with strangers. The child was so shy. Melvin's score in the achievement test did not pass for the second grade. When Melvin was enrolled to a larger school, he made the most progress of any first grader in the county.

The articles offers insights on morals and education in the United States by Omaha superintendent H. M. James. He promoted the emulation of the Prussian maxim of instilling principles that are desired in a nation into the teaching of children in schools. Daily deposits of honest principles, good purposes and a love for truth and upright conduct must be taught in schools in order to be developed and carried into the personalities of children into the future.