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Racial discrimination is a salient and chronic stressor for ethnic minority parents that can negatively impact their parenting. The present study used a short-term longitudinal design to examine the link between Chinese American mothers' stressful experiences of racial discrimination and their authoritarian parenting practices, the mediating role of mothers' depressive symptoms, and the moderating role of their behavioral acculturation toward American and Chinese cultures in these associations (i.e., behavioral participation in the American culture and behavioral maintenance of Chinese culture). Participants were 143 first-generation Chinese American mothers (M[subscript age] = 38.0 years) with preschool-age children (M[subscript age] = 4.6 years; 50% girls). Mothers reported their racial discrimination stress, depressive symptoms, American and Chinese behavioral acculturation, and authoritarian parenting across two time points over a 6-month interval. A moderated mediation model was conducted using structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized associations. Chinese American mothers' depressive symptoms mediated the association between racial discrimination stress and authoritarian parenting. The path between racial discrimination stress and depressive symptoms and the indirect effect of racial discrimination stress on authoritarian parenting were buffered by mothers' behavioral acculturation toward American culture and exacerbated by their behavioral acculturation toward Chinese culture. This study provides the first longitudinal evidence linking Chinese American mothers' experiences of racial discrimination and their negative parenting over time as well as mediating and moderating factors underlying this process. Our findings highlight the need for systemic efforts addressing racial inequalities and fostering positive development in Asian Americans and other marginalized families.

Purpose: Teacher ratings were used to compare children with developmental language disorders (DLD) and their typically developing peers on 2 subtypes of social withdrawal (shyness and unsociability). Measurement invariance analysis was utilized to determine if teachers rated the 2 groups using the same underlying construct for each of the rating scale items that have been designed to assess withdrawn behavior. Method: The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS; C. H. Hart & Robinson, 1996) was administered to the teachers of 173 children with DLD and 182 typically developing children (age range: 5;0-12;11 years;months) to compare 2 subtypes of withdrawal, shyness and unsociability. Measurement invariance analysis was used to establish an appropriate basis for comparing the latent group means and other structural parameters, and partial invariance models were used to compare the groups. Results: For the TBRS, shyness and unsociability were measured by 4 and 5 items, respectively. The measurement invariance analysis indicated that classroom teachers approached 1 item on each of these scales using a different underlying construct when rating the 2 groups of children. Taking this into account, the groups were compared. Teachers rated children with DLD as significantly more withdrawn on both shyness and unsociability in comparison with typically developing children. Age and gender were not significant factors. Conclusions: When conducting assessments, it should not be assumed that teachers or other raters approach even commonly used rating scale items using the same underlying perception for typically developing children and children with disorders. However, the analysis of invariant items on the TBRS reconfirmed that children with DLD are at risk for social withdrawal as operationalized by assessments of both shyness and unsociability.

The goals of this study were to examine: (a) bidirectional associations between maternal parenting (physical punishment and guilt induction) and Chinese American preschool children's psychosocial adjustment and (b) the role of maternal cultural orientation and child temperament in moderating parenting effects. Participants were Chinese American mothers and children (N = 163, M[subscript age] = 4.56, 53% boys). Mothers reported on their parenting practices at both Wave 1 (W1) and Wave 2 (W2) and their cultural orientations and children's inhibitory control at W1. Teachers rated children's prosocial, internalizing, and externalizing behaviors at both W1 and W2. A Bayesian approach to path analysis was utilized to investigate how parenting, child inhibitory control, and maternal cultural orientations work together to predict the development of children's prosociality and psychosocial problems. Results showed that for Chinese immigrant mothers who were highly acculturated toward the American culture and for children with low levels of inhibitory control, maternal use of physical punishment predicted more externalizing problems in children. Child inhibitory control and maternal enculturation were directly associated with less W2 child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Moreover, physical punishment predicted more internalizing behavior, whereas guilt induction predicted less child internalizing behavior. Maternal guilt induction also prospectively predicted more prosocial behavior but only for children with low levels of inhibitory control. Finally, only one child effect was significant: More W1 internalizing behavior predicted less W2 physical punishment. These effects held after controlling for temporal stabilities of the constructs and demographic covariates. Findings are discussed within the cultural context of the study.

Children's temperamental surgency is associated with later child behavioral problems. However, the underlying mechanisms linking child surgency and child aggression, such as negative parental control, are relatively understudied. Moreover, the potential protective effect of a close parent‐child relationship on these associations remains untested, particularly among non‐White families. Participants included 259 Chinese American preschoolers (Mage = 4.5 years, SD =.9 years, 50% girls) and their mothers (Mage = 37.9 years, SD = 4.7 years), the present study examined the moderating effects of parent‐child relationship quality on the association between mother‐rated child surgency and teacher‐rated child aggression as mediated by maternal psychological control. Overall, results showed that child surgency was linked positively to maternal psychological control, which, in turn, led to higher levels of child aggression six months later, but only when the parent‐child relationship quality was less optimal. These findings indicate that psychological control is one underlying mechanism linking child temperament and child maladjustment, and that parent‐child relationship quality is an important protective factor. Findings also expand an existing theoretical framework by explicating how these variables are applicable to an Asian American population, suggesting the critical buffering role that parent‐child relationship quality plays. The study findings inform efforts to mitigate the potential negative effect of psychological control in reducing childhood aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the theoretical conceptualization of parental psychological control as a multidimensional construct, the majority of previous studies have examined psychological control as a unidimensional scale. Moreover, the conceptualization of shaming and its associations with love withdrawal and guilt induction are unclear. The current study aimed to fill these gaps by evaluating the latent factor structure underlying 18 items from Olsen et al. (2002) that were conceptually relevant to love withdrawal, guilt induction, and shaming practices in a sample of 169 mothers of Chinese-American preschoolers. A multidimensional three-factor model and bi-factor model were specified based on our formulated operational definitions for the three dimensions of psychological control. Both models were found to be superior to the unidimensional model. In addition, results from the bi-factor model and an additional second-order factor model indicated that psychological control is essentially empirically isomorphic with guilt induction. Although love withdrawal and shaming factors were also fairly strong indicators of psychological control, each exhibited important additional unique variability and mutual distinctiveness. Implications for the conceptualization of love withdrawal, guilt induction, and shaming as well as directions for future studies are discussed.

Parental psychological control generally consists of overinvolved/protective and critical/rejecting elements, both being linked to children's psychosocial maladjustment. The critical/rejecting element is multidimensional in nature, and few studies have explored this conceptual fullness. It is possible that some dimensions, if they can be statistically differentiated, are uniquely tied to various child behaviors. This may help resolve some of the inconsistency apparent across studies, such as studies of relational aggression. Accordingly, we examined the association between parental psychological control and childhood physical and relational aggression using a dimensional approach. Participants were 204 Russian preschoolers and their parents. The results revealed that dimensions of psychosocial control (i.e., shaming/disappointment, constraining verbal expressions, invalidating feelings, love withdrawal, and guilt induction) could be statistically differentiated, even though most dimensions tended to be significantly correlated. Furthermore, all dimensions, except for invalidating feelings, were significantly associated with childhood aggression, but predominantly in same-gender parent-child dyads. (Contains 4 tables.)

Little is known about the behavior of preschool children belonging to peer sociometric status groups (popular, average, rejected, neglected, and controversial) in cultural contexts outside North America. This study examined the social interactions of Italian preschoolers. The sample consisted of 266 Italian preschoolers (mean age of 64 months). Physical and relational subtypes of aggression and victimization, as well as sociable behavior, were measured by peer nominations and teacher ratings. Peer nominations of acceptance and rejection (like and dislike nominations) were also collected in order to form the sociometric status groups. Results of confirmatory factor analyses showed that items developed with US preschoolers appeared to work fairly well in identifying behavioral constructs in Italian preschoolers. Findings generally supported previous research with American preschoolers. Sociometrically popular children were highest in sociability, and lowest in physical and relational aggression and victimization. The opposite pattern emerged for rejected status children. Neglected status children were generally not distinguished from average status children. Results also suggested that the enactment of relational aggression promotes greater social impact for some Italian children (controversial children), and this aggression also invites more conflict and victimization. However, the sociability of controversial children appears to buffer them from rejected group status.

It is developmentally normative for preschoolers (aged four to five years) to have self-perceptions that are typically positive and even over-inflated. However, because not all children have positive self-perceptions in early childhood it is important to understand factors that influence the development of self-perceptions, especially low self-perceptions, in early childhood. Therefore, this study examined the associations between self-perceptions and teacher ratings of social behaviors, subtypes of withdrawal, and peer ratings of acceptance/rejection in preschoolers. Participants included 199 children (107 males, 92 females) attending two early childhood programs in a midsized community in the western United States. The major findings were that children in early childhood who have lower self-perceptions of their abilities than their peers tended to engage in more reticence, solitary-passive withdrawal, and solitary-active behavior. (Contains 3 tables.)

Although the construct of solitary-active behavior calls for the aggregation of solitary-functional play and solitary-pretend play, there is little empirical support for combining them into one construct. Furthermore, little work has been done in early childhood to examine these behaviors on the playground. The purpose of this study was to observe children's behavior on the playground to explore whether solitary-functional and solitary-pretend behaviors are related to one another and to other indices of social adjustment/maladjustment. Examining a sample of 361 preschoolers, results revealed that (1) solitary-functional and solitary-pretend play were not related, (2) solitary-functional play was associated with solitary-passive and reticent behaviors, as well as less social play, co-operative rough and tumble play, sociable/friendliness, assertiveness, and lower peer acceptance, and (3) solitary-pretend play was linked to lower peer acceptance and more social maladjustment, including venting, reactive aggression (but not proactive aggression), active exclusion, victimization, and being distractible.

Researchers have identified specific parenting practices used by parents of preschoolers in mainland China (e.g., physical coercion, overprotection, shaming, directiveness, encouragement of modesty). Some of the intrusive practices have been linked to social withdrawal in western societies (e.g., United States, Canada). It seemed important to examine these associations in China because recent research suggests that young Chinese children who exhibit wariness in peer settings may be at risk for negative outcomes such as peer rejection. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relation between Chinese parenting practices and preschoolers' social withdrawal. Mothers of preschool-age children from mainland China (N = 446) completed self-report parenting questionnaires. Teachers rated children's reticent, solitary-passive, solitary-active, and modest behaviors. Results showed that (a) maternal directiveness was positively associated with reticent behavior in girls and negatively associated with solitary-passive behavior in boys, (b) maternal overprotection, for girls, was positively related to both reticent behavior and solitary-passive behavior, and negatively related to modest behavior, (c) coercion was positively associated with solitary-active and reticent behavior in girls, and (d) shaming was positively related to all forms of withdrawn behaviors in boys and girls, as well as positively related to modest behavior in boys. (Contains 4 tables and 1 footnote.)

The purpose of this investigation was to examine comparable dimensions and linkages between child temperament and parenting styles with samples from Beijing, China and the western United States. Participants included 404 mothers and fathers from Beijing, China and 325 mothers and fathers from the western United States. Both mothers and fathers completed Buss and Plomin's (1984) EAS Temperament Scale as well as a spousal-report measure of parenting styles. Structural equation modelling was used to identify invariant (statistically comparable) factors for child temperament and parenting styles. Within-culture gender comparisons showed that Chinese fathers (relative to mothers) viewed their sons as being more active and sociable than daughters while US mothers (relative to fathers) rated their sons as being more active. Across-culture differences revealed that US parents (relative to Chinese parents) viewed children as more emotional while Chinese fathers (relative to US fathers) rated their children as more active. Similar and differential cultural patterns of linkages were also found between parenting styles and child temperament. Child emotionality was positively associated with authoritarian parenting in both cultures while child activity level was linked to more authoritative and less authoritarian parenting styles, but only in the Chinese sample. Finally, child sociability was found to be negatively linked to cross-gender patterns of authoritarian parenting in the US while mothers' and fathers' authoritarian parenting in China was linked to lower sociability in daughters only. (Contains 3 tables.)

Little is known concerning how subtypes of aggression (relational and physical) might be differentially related to preschool-age children's classification in peer sociometric status groups (popular, average, rejected, neglected, and controversial). Furthermore, associations between aggression and sociometric status might vary according to the assessment tools utilized (e.g., peer report vs. teacher report). In this study, relational and physical aggression as well as sociable behavior of preschool-age children was assessed using peer reports and teacher reports. Peer nominations of acceptance and rejection (like and dislike nominations) were also collected and used to form sociometric status groups. Findings indicate that the behavioral differences between sociometric status group categories, obtained with older samples in previous research, is already evident as early as preschool. Furthermore, relational aggression is associated with controversial sociometric status in this age group (based on peer reports). These findings complement an emerging body of research indicating that the practice of relational aggression may be associated with greater peer status for some children.

Explored the simultaneous sequential transition patterns of preschoolers' social play within classroom settings. Found that the proportion of social-play states did not vary during play episodes even when accounting for type of activity center, gender, and SES. Found a reciprocal relationship between parallel-aware and other social-play states during and within child-initiated play centers. Found that preschoolers progressed from onlooker behavior to parallel-aware to cooperative-social play during child- initiated activities. (Author/KB)

Examined cross-informant concordance, temporal stability, and reliability of sociometrics in 84 preschoolers. Found that parallel forms of teacher and peer sociometrics measured overlapping and unique aspects of popularity. Teacher-measured popularity was highly stable over 8 weeks; peer-measured popularity showed lower stability. Both teacher and peer sociometrics showed high reliability. Child age and classroom participation did not alter modeled relationships. (Author/KB)

This study examined reciprocal friendship and peer acceptance in eight children with specific language impairment (SLI) in regular elementary classrooms. Three of the children were less well accepted than typical peers and five children reported no reciprocal friendships. Suggestions for facilitating friendships in children with SLI are offered. (Author/DB)

Investigated effect of classroom type (DAP versus DIP) on stress behaviors and activity participation of 102 preschool children as moderated by socioeconomic status (SES) and sex. Found twice the level of overall stress behavior in DIP classrooms, with lower SES children and males (during small motor/paper-and-pencil activities) exhibiting significantly more stress behaviors, and lower SES children more inappropriate activity participation. (EV)

Maternal and paternal parenting styles and marital interactions linked to childhood aggressive behavior in Western psychological literature were measured in 207 ethnic Russian families of nursery-school-age children. Results corroborated and extended findings from Western samples. Greater marital conflict (for boys only), greater maternal coercion, and less paternal responsiveness were most important contributors to overt and relational aggression. (Author/EV)

A total of 136 mothers of preschool-age children participated in interviews about their disciplinary style. Children of power-assertive mothers engaged in more antisocial or disruptive behavior than other children and expected successful instrumental outcomes for hostile methods of resolving peer conflict. (LB)

Children of inductive parents, or those rated low in their use of power assertive discipline, exhibited fewer disruptive playground behaviors than other children. Daughters of inductive mothers exhibited more prosocial behavior than other children. Children of inductive mothers were preferred to other children by peers. (BC)

Assessed preschoolers' peer relations and measured the frequency of parents' and children's initiations of children's play interactions with peers. Frequent parent initiations were associated with high levels of children's prosocial behavior. Children who more often initiated interactions displayed less anxious behavior than children who less often initiated interactions. (BC)

Children of mothers who were more assertive in their disciplinary styles tended to be less accepted by peers and to expect successful outcomes for unfriendly assertive methods for resolving peer conflict. Children who expected unfriendly assertive strategies to lead to self-oriented gains were less accepted by peers. (RH)

Abstract. This initial study explored the social behaviors of kindergarten children in two classrooms (one developmentally appropriate, one developmentally inappropriate) where the teacher used either positive or negative guidance strategies. [...]

The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (C. H. Hart & C. C. Robinson, 1996) was used to compare the withdrawn and sociable behaviors of 41 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 41 typically developing peers. Three subtypes of withdrawal (reticence, solitary-active, solitary-passive) and 2 subtypes of sociable behavior (prosocial, impulse control/likeability) were examined. Teachers rated children with SLI as exhibiting higher levels of reticence and solitary-passive withdrawal than typical children. Teachers also rated the children with SLI as demonstrating lower levels of both types of sociable behavior than typical children. The group with SLI was then separated into subgroups of children having more severe and less severe language impairment. These groupings did not differ on comparisons involving withdrawn behavior, except that girls with more severe receptive problems demonstrated higher levels of solitary-passive withdrawal than did girls with less severe language problems. Children with less severe receptive language impairment demonstrated higher levels of proficiency on both types of sociable behavior than their peers with more severe impairment. Children with more severe expressive problems also demonstrated poorer prosocial behavior--but not poorer impulse control/likeability--than children with less severe expressive problems. KEY WORDS: social skills, language impairment, socioemotional, withdrawal, social competence, There is considerable evidence that children with language impairment (LI) are at risk for social difficulties. These problems may be manifest as immature patterns of socialization early in development (Paul, [...]