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People who are in close relationships tend to do and like the same things, a phenomenon termed the "homophily principle." The present research probed for evidence of the homophily principle in 4- to 6-year-old children. Across two experiments, participants (N = 327; 166 girls, 161 boys; located in the Midwestern United States) were asked to predict the closeness of two people based on their preferences. Participants in Experiment 1 indicated that people with a shared preference or a shared dispreference were more closely affiliated than people whose preferences diverged, suggesting inferences of homophily. Furthermore, children were not only relying on the emotional valences expressed: They expected people with a shared preference to be closer than people who expressed positive emotions about different items and expected people with a shared dispreference to be closer than people who expressed negative emotions about different items. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the main findings of Experiment 1 with more naturalistic stimuli. The present studies provide strong evidence that young children apply the homophily principle to their reasoning about social relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

People who are in close relationships tend to do and like the same things, a phenomenon termed the "homophily principle." The present research probed for evidence of the homophily principle in 4- to 6-year-old children. Across two experiments, participants (N = 327; 166 girls, 161 boys; located in the Midwestern United States) were asked to predict the closeness of two people based on their preferences. Participants in Experiment 1 indicated that people with a shared preference or a shared dispreference were more closely affiliated than people whose preferences diverged, suggesting inferences of homophily. Furthermore, children were not only relying on the emotional valences expressed: They expected people with a shared preference to be closer than people who expressed positive emotions about different items and expected people with a shared dispreference to be closer than people who expressed negative emotions about different items. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the main findings of Experiment 1 with more naturalistic stimuli. The present studies provide strong evidence that young children apply the homophily principle to their reasoning about social relationships.

These studies investigate the influence of adults' explicit attention to commonalities of appearance on children's preference for individuals resembling themselves. Three findings emerged: (1) An adult's identification of two dolls' respective similarity to and difference from the child led 3-year-olds to prefer the similar doll (study 1, n = 32). (2) When the adult did not comment on similarity, children age 6 years but not younger preferred physically similar individuals (study 2, n = 68), suggesting that a spontaneous preference for physically similar others does not emerge before school age. (3) Four- but not 3-year-olds generalized an adult's pedagogical cues about similarity, leading them to prefer a self-resembling doll in a new context (study 3, n = 80). These findings collectively suggest that the preference for individuals resembling ourselves develops through a process of internalizing adults' attention to, and messages about, similarities of appearance.

Supportive peers are crucial for transgender children's well‐being. Transgender children who live in their affirmed gender face decisions surrounding concealment and disclosure of their transgender identity. We sought to understand how cisgender (N = 115) and gender‐diverse children (N = 127), and siblings of gender‐diverse children (N = 63) think about transition disclosure and concealment. All groups viewed transition disclosure and concealment positively. However, gender‐diverse children showed greater acceptance of transition concealment and had stronger liking of transition concealers (relative to non‐transition concealers). Additionally, children generally expected transgender peers to be selective about who they disclose to, valuing trustworthiness and diverse friend groups in such decisions. Our findings suggest that regardless of gender identity, children are sensitive to the potential costs of disclosure and may support trans children however they choose to navigate these decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies indicate that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have lower levels of glutathione. Nutritional interventions aim to increase glutathione levels suggest a positive effect on ASD behaviors, but findings are mixed or non-significant. A commercially available nutritional supplement comprising a cysteine-rich whey protein isolate (CRWP), a potent precursor of glutathione, was previously found to be safe and effective at raising glutathione in several conditions associated with low antioxidant capacity. Therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of a 90-day CRWP intervention in children with ASD and examined whether intracellular reduced and oxidized glutathione improvements correlated with behavioral changes. We enrolled 46 (of 81 screened) 3–5-year-old preschool children with confirmed ASD. Using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design, we evaluated the effectiveness of daily CRWP (powder form: 0.5 g/kg for children 20 kg), compared with placebo (rice protein mimicking the protein load in the intervention group), on glutathione levels and ASD behaviors assessed using different behavioral scales such as Childhood Autism Rated Scale, Preschool Language Scale, Social Communication Questionnaire, Childhood Behavioral Checklist and the parent-rated Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, 2nd edition (VABS-II). Forty children (CRWP, 21; placebo, 19) completed the 90-day treatment period. Improvements observed in some behavioral scales were comparable. However, the VABS-II behavioral assessment, demonstrated significant changes only in children receiving CRWP compared to those observed in the placebo group in the composite score (effect size 0.98; 95% confidence intervals 1.42–4.02; p = 0.03). Further, several VABS-II domain scores such as adaptive behavior (p = 0.03), socialization (p = 0.03), maladaptive behavior (p = 0.04) and internalizing behavior (p = 0.02) also indicated significant changes. Children assigned to the CRWP group showed significant increases in glutathione levels (p = 0.04) compared to those in the placebo group. A subanalysis of the VABS-II scale results comparing responders (>1 SD change from baseline to follow up) and non-responders in the CRWP group identified older age and higher levels of total and reduced glutathione as factors associated with a response. CRWP nutritional intervention in children with ASD significantly improved both glutathione levels and some behaviors associated with ASD. Further studies are needed to confirm these results.Clinical Trial Registration:https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT01366859, identifier: NCT01366859.

Slipstream wake structures generated by the passing of high-speed rail vehicles represent a hazard to passengers and workers in close proximity. In this article, the possibility of reducing peak slipstream velocities through the implementation of angled fins or swirling flow injection is assessed on the basis of improved delayed detached eddy simulations (IDDES). The key to improving slipstream velocities involves redirecting and/or reducing the internal energy, a pair of meandering counter-rotating vortex cores that are associated with large wake slipstream deviations. It is demonstrated that the danger imposed by slipstream wake structures, as measured by the induced velocity measures recorded at a series of test points adjacent to the passing train, could be significantly reduced, with decreases from 10% up to 23%, recorded across a range of sampling locations. The means by which these reductions are generated and the corresponding changes in the flow are also explored through analysis of the modified wakes. As such, these devices show promise at improving the operational safety of high-speed rail vehicles.

Background: Children and parents often rely on the support provided by non-parental adults such as extended family members. Expanding conceptualizations of social support beyond traditional nuclear family paradigms to include non-parental adults may be particularly relevant to identifying family strengths among economically disadvantaged and Latino families. Objective: In the present study, we examine the extent to which child reports of parenting support provided by non-parental adults are linked to variations in mother-reported parenting efficacy and depressive symptoms, and whether these associations vary according to maternal marital status and Latino/Hispanic race/ethnicity. Methods: The present study considers how child-reported social support specific to parenting is associated with maternal self-reported wellbeing among a community sample of 59 mothers and their 10-12 year-old children. Results: Findings indicate that controlling for maternal perceptions of global social-emotional support, parenting support is inversely related to parenting efficacy among single mother and Latino/Hispanic families. Further, Latino/Hispanic children of mothers with higher levels of depressive symptoms report greater support from non-parental adults. Conclusions: These results suggest that parenting support may in this cross-sectional study be a response to maternal need. Further, the function of support from non-parental adults may vary for single-mother versus two-parent families, and Latino/Hispanic families in comparison to European American families.

Author(s): Joseph P Zackular [1]; Jessica L Moore [2, 3]; Ashley T Jordan [1]; Lillian J Juttukonda [1]; Michael J Noto [1, 4]; Maribeth R Nicholson [5]; Jonathan D Crews [...]

These studies investigate the influence of adults' explicit attention to commonalities of appearance on children's preference for individuals resembling themselves. Three findings emerged: (1) An adult's identification of two dolls' respective similarity to and difference from the child led 3‐year‐olds to prefer the similar doll (study 1, n = 32). (2) When the adult did not comment on similarity, children age 6 years but not younger preferred physically similar individuals (study 2, n = 68), suggesting that a spontaneous preference for physically similar others does not emerge before school age. (3) Four‐ but not 3‐year‐olds generalized an adult's pedagogical cues about similarity, leading them to prefer a self‐resembling doll in a new context (study 3, n = 80). These findings collectively suggest that the preference for individuals resembling ourselves develops through a process of internalizing adults' attention to, and messages about, similarities of appearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While interpersonal similarities impact young children's peer judgments, little work has assessed whether they also guide group‐based reasoning. A common assumption has been that category labels rather than 'mere' similarities are unique constituents of such reasoning; the present work challenges this. Children (ages 3–9) viewed groups defined by category labels or shared preferences, and their social inferences were assessed. By age 5, children used both types of information to licence predictions about preferences (Study 1, n = 129) and richer forms of coalitional structure (Study 2, n = 205). Low‐level explanations could not account for this pattern (Study 3, n = 72). Finally, older but not younger children privileged labelled categories when they were pitted against similarity (Study 4, n = 51). These studies show that young children use shared preferences to reason about relationships and coalitional structure, suggesting that similarities are central to the emergence of group representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]