Factors Associated with Peer Social Competence in Preadolescents with Craniofacial Anomalies

Examined factors associated with peer social competence in preadolescentswith craniofacial anomalies (CFA). Preadolescents with relativelygreater social competence reported more frequent companionshipwith peers, and more positive Harter (1985) Self-PerceptionProfile for Children perceptions of physical appearance andscholastic and athletic competence; their parents were morelikely to encourage them to interact with peers. Preadolescentslower on social competence reported more loneliness and socialanxiety. Parents rated them as having more behavior problemson the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 1991), especiallyinternalizing, and were more worried about their children'sfriendships. Areas where preadolescents with CFA are vulnerableto poor peer relations are discussed.     

Overt and relational victimization among children with frequent abdominal pain: links to social skills, academic functioning, and health service use

OBJECTIVES: Chronic abdominal pain is linked with school absenteeism and diminished social competence; yet, little is know about the extent to which negative peer encounters contribute to symptoms and functioning in youth with abdominal pain. This study compared children with frequent abdominal pain with a pain-free control group on measures of overt and relational victimization and examined the link between abdominal pain and school-related functioning. METHODS: Participants were 60 children with frequent abdominal pain and 60 gender- and age-matched peers. Child, peer, and teacher reports were used to assess abdominal pain, peer victimization, use of school medical services, social skills, and academic competence. RESULTS: Children with frequent abdominal pain experienced higher levels of victimization than their pain-free peers, with boys in the pain group rated highest in overt victimization. For children in the pain group, overt and relational victimization made incremental contributions to outcomes and moderated the link between pain- and school-related functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Overt and relational victimization may increase risk of concurrent adjustment problems among youth with frequent abdominal pain; thus, it may be useful to assess peer relationships when working with this population.     

Assessment of peer neglectin the preschool years: A short-term longitudinal study

Examined concurrent and longitudinal relations between different measures of peer neglect in the preschool years. Measures of social competence included peer sociometrics, teacher ratings, and behavioral observations of peer interactions. Participants were sixty 4- to 5-year-old Caucasian boys from low-income family backgrounds. Results indicated that the stability of indicators of peer neglect and social isolation depended on the measure employed. Correlations between different measures suggested heterogeneity in patterns of social adaptation among neglected or isolated preschool children. Results are discussed emphasizing the need to rely on multiple indicators for the assessment of preschool children's social competence.     

Social information-processing skills training to promote social competence and prevent aggressive behavior in the third grades

This article describes a school-based study designed to promote social competence and reduce aggressive behavior by strengthening children's skills in processing social information and regulating emotions. Three successive cohorts of 3rd graders (N = 548) from 2 schools participated. In 2000-2001, children received a routine health curriculum; in 2001-2002, students received the Making Choices: Social Problem Solving Skills for Children (MC) program; and in 2002-2003, children received MC supplemented with teacher and parent activities. Compared with children in the routine condition, children in both MC conditions were rated lower on posttest social and overt aggression and higher on social competence. Moreover, they scored significantly higher on an information-processing skills posttest. The findings suggest that prevention programs can strengthen social- emotional skills and produce changes in aggressive behavior.     

Attachment organizations in children with difficult life circumstances

The purpose of this study was to use the Attachment Q-Set to create categories of attachment organization that were conceptually consistent with organizational categories derived from other attachment assessments, reliable, and valid. We were particularly interested in creating categories that would describe insecure attachment organizations in children from difficult life circumstances. Our sample of relationships included 3062 teacher-child relationships. Children ranged in age from toddlers to kindergartners and were diverse in ethnic background. Two percent of the children were diagnosed with severe social and emotional problems and enrolled in a therapeutic preschool. Sixteen percent were enrolled in intervention programs on the basis of family poverty and another 34% of the children attended subsidized child care programs for low-income children. All of the children's child-teacher relationships were assessed with the Attachment Q-Set (AQS). Independent observers observed or rated children's peer play. Teachers completed behavior problem questionnaires and Student Teacher Relationships Scales. Using the AQS we created five subscales and six attachment organizational categories. These subscales and organizational categories were associated in theoretically meaningful ways with measures of behavior problems, social competence with peers, and teacher perceptions of child-teacher relationship.     

A longitudinal examination predicting emergency room use in children with sickle cell disease and their caregivers

OBJECTIVE: To examine in a longitudinal investigation perceptions of disease severity among children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their caregivers and to determine whether perceptions of disease severity and self-reported adjustment would account for a greater percentage of the variance in emergency room (ER) use than objective measures of disease severity. METHODS: Participants were 58 African-American children (ages 8-18 years) diagnosed with SCD who were recruited from an outpatient clinic. Children and their caregivers were administered a series of measures designed to assess caregivers' adjustment and perceptions of children's disease severity. Frequency of ER visits was tabulated over an average 4-year period. RESULTS: Caregivers' and children's social adjustment accounted for a unique portion of the variance beyond that accounted by subjective perceptions of disease severity, demographic, and objective biological markers of disease severity. Poorer psychological adjustment of caregivers as well as communication patterns among children were associated with ER use frequency after controlling for objective disease severity variables and demographic factors. Child social adjustment, specifically friendship quality, accounted for variance in children's use of the ER beyond that accounted for by social class and objective markers of disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: Support is provided for the notion that ER use for children with SCD may be independent of disease severity and predicted by caregivers' psychological adjustment and children's peer adjustment.     

The quality of peer relationships among children exposed to family violence

Three hundred sixty-three school-aged children from maritally violent and nonviolent families were interviewed about their friendship networks, frequency of social contact, the interpersonal quality of their friendships, and hostile attributional biases. Mothers answered items from the Child Behavior Checklist about peer conflict. Children did not differ on the number of friends they claimed or their frequency of contact with peers. However, children exposed to marital violence reported feeling more lonely and having more conflict with a close friend. Their mothers also reported them as having more problems with peers. In addition, children with punitive mothers had more conflict with a best friend. Residing in a shelter added further to children's feelings of loneliness, with one third having no best friend. Children's attributional biases were unrelated to the quality of their peer relations or any other index of peer functioning. Results are discussed in terms of an attachment framework. Findings confirm that it is important to examine the quality of relationships to determine how children at risk fare in their social lives.     

Are positive illusions adaptive?: self- and other-rating

The present study investigated the relationship between children's overly positive self-perceptions of their own social competence and mental health. Elementary school students (grades fourth to sixth, n=331) and their homeroom teachers (n=9) participated in the study. The positive illusion was measured by the difference between the self-rating and the other (homeroom teachers) -rating. And, the index of mental health was administered in both self-rating and other (homeroom teachers and same-sex classmates) -rating forms. Positive illusions about children's social competence were positively related to self-ratings of mental health. However, the present study also found detrimental effects of such positive illusions. Children with excessively positive views of their social competence were viewed by teachers and same-sex classmates as significantly more aggressive than those children who showed more evidence of self-devaluation. In addition, children with overly positive self-perceptions were not as accepted by same-sex classmates.     

The roles of behavioral adjustment and conceptions of peers and emotions in preschool children's peer victimization

Ninety-four low- and middle-income preschoolers (48 boys, 46 girls) were recruited from two sites in a large southwestern city. Children's positive attributions of peer intent, social problem-solving decisions, and attributions of peers' feelings about the provocation were evaluated from individual interviews. In addition, children's anger perception accuracy and their global emotion situation knowledge were assessed. Teachers and their assistants reported on the children's social competence, internalizing and externalizing behavior, and the degree to which children were physically and relationally victimized. Social competence was a negative predictor of relational and physical victimization, and externalizing behavior was a positive predictor of both types of victimization. Anger perception accuracy was negatively related to physical victimization, and global emotion situation knowledge and attributions of sorrow to provoking peers were positive predictors. Results support a conceptual framework that emphasizes the importance of social and emotion-related social cognitive variables for understanding young children's peer-related victimization.     

Social Behavior and Social Perception in Learning-Disabled Children: A Review with Implications for Social Skills Training

Children with learning disabilities (LD) have been found toexperience more difficulties with peer relationships than nondisabledchildren. Consequently, investigators have examined the socialbehavior and social comprehension skills ofLD children, in aneffort to understand their lower peer status and to design appropriateintervention strategies. The present paper reviews existingliterature in these areas. Studies suggest that, although theyappear to interact with peers as frequently as nondisabled children,LD children (a) are more likely to be involved in negative peerinteractions and (b) tend to display less frequent and/or moreinappropriate positive social behaviors. Social comprehensionskills were not found to be typically problematic for LD children.However, a number of methodological problems complicate theinterpretation of existing research, including variability insubject samples studied, absence of a uniform definition oflearning disabilities, differences in behavioral coding methodologies,and the confounding of peer status and academic status. Basedon empirical findings, several suggestions are offered for futureresearch and for tailoring existing social skills programs tothe needs of LD children who are experiencing problematic peerinteractions.     

Social Competence Among Children with Central Nervous System-Related Chronic Health Conditions: A Review

Reviewed empirical studies of social competence among childrenwith central nervous system (CNS)-related chronic health conditionspublished since 1975. The overwhelming majority of studies evaluatedsocial competence at the level of social adjustment; the domainsof children's social pegorrnance and social skills were relativelyneglected (Cavell, 1990). Findings are critiqued with respectto conceptualization of social competence among children withCNS conditions and methodological considerations. Directionsfor future research include expanding the conceptualizationof social competence in this population to include social demandsand competencies specifc to children with CNS conditions andutilizing explicit theoretical frameworks that allow for competinghypotheses to be tested.     

Disease experience and psychosocial adjustment in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis: children's versus mothers' reports.

Adjustment in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) has been evaluated most frequently by parental or teacher reports and with reference to disease severity. In this study, 38 children, ages 7 to 13 with JRA, and their mothers were interviewed. Modest correlations were found between children and mothers in their assessments of children's perceived competence in several domains (i.e., athletic competence, social acceptance, physical attractiveness, and global self-worth) and in their perceptions of how JRA is experienced by children and families. Children's perceptions of the disease experience were significantly correlated with the four measures of perceived competence, even after controlling for disease severity. The results highlight the importance of cross-validating parental reports with children's self-reports, and demonstrate the need to consider variables other than disease severity--in particular how JRA is interpreted by children--in predicting their adjustment.     

Peer rejection, social behavior, and psychological adjustment in children with juvenile rheumatic disease

Objective To examine the associations among disease status,social competence, and depressive symptoms in children withjuvenile rheumatic disease (JRD) and to test the hypothesisthat individual differences in children's social competenceaccount for a significant proportion of variance in depressivesymptoms after controlling for disease status variables. Method Thirty-sixchildren with JRD completed standardized instruments to assesspain, health status, and depressive symptoms. The rheumatologistcompleted a disease severity measure, and teachers providedratings of peer rejection and social behavior. Results Pain,peer rejection, and problematic social behavior were all positivelyassociated with depressive symptoms. Social variables remainedsignificantly associated with depressive symptoms after controllingfor level of pain. In addition, peer rejection moderated theassociation between pain and depressive symptoms, such thatchildren with high levels of pain and high levels of peer rejectionreported the highest frequency of depressive symptoms. Conclusions Healthcare providers should assess the social functioning of childrenwith JRD in order to identify socially vulnerable children whomay be at increased risk for internalizing problems.     

Psychosocial Impairment Associated With Anxiety in Children

Children identified as highly anxious and withdrawn by their teachers were compared to nonanxious children on independent measures of adjustment. From a sample of 325 children, 24 were identified who received extremely high teacher ratings on the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (RBPC) Anxiety-Withdrawal factor. When contrasted with children receiving low teacher ratings on the RBPC Anxiety-Withdrawal subscale, teacher-identified anxious children were found to demonstrate a broad range of psychosocial difficulties. As assessed by peer, teacher, and self-reports, anxious-withdrawn children showed impairment in peer relations and in levels of depression, self-esteem, attention, school performance, and social behavior when compared to nonanxious children. Overall, the present findings lend empirical support to the forms of psychopathology purported to be associated with childhood anxiety disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1980).     

The association between children's sleep disruption and salivary interleukin-6

We explored relations between children's sleep and levels of salivary interleukin-6 (IL-6). Children were healthy boys (n = 28) and girls (n = 36) who ranged in age between 8 and 9 years. Through actigraphy, the amount and quality of children's sleep was examined objectively in their homes for 1 week. Children also rated their Morningness/Eveningness predisposition and subjective sleepiness, and parents reported on their children's Sleep Disordered Breathing and Sleepiness. Children provided saliva samples before and after a series of cognitive/social tasks (an intelligence test, listening to a marital argument, and performing a star-tracing task), which were later assayed for IL-6. Children with higher salivary IL-6 levels reported increased Eveningness predispositions and their parents reported higher levels of Sleep Disordered Breathing. Furthermore, lower levels of sleepiness, longer sleep amount, and better quality sleep in children were each predictive of increased IL-6 reactivity from pre- to post-task conditions. The findings illustrate (for the first time to our knowledge) that sleep disruptions in otherwise healthy and normally developing children may be associated with individual differences in levels of IL-6 in saliva.     

Trajectories of peer victimization in elementary school children: Associations with changes in internalizing,externalizing, social competence,and school climate

The current study examines the developmental changes (internalizing and externalizing symptoms, social competence, and experiences of school climate) in children who follow distinct trajectories of peer victimization in a sample of elementary school children across 2 years. Data were from children, and their parents and teachers, in Grades 1–3 followed across five waves. Latent class analyses revealed four distinct victimization trajectory groups characterized by chronically high, increasing, decreasing, or low-stable levels across time. Multilevel analyses showed that children in the chronically high peer victimization group had higher initials levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, lower levels of social competence, and poorer experiences of school climate compared to children in the low-stable group. Over time, children in the increasing group had slower rates of increases in social competence than children in the low-stable group and had worsening experiences of school climate compared to children in the low-stable peer victimization group. Findings suggest children who are chronically victimized may be at a developmental disadvantage compared to children who report little or declining peer victimization over time.     

A Multiperspective Investigation of Social Competence in Children with Sickle Cell Disease

Compared the social competence and self-perceptions of 4- to8-year-old children with sickle cell disease (SCD) to a comparisongroup of healthy children. Social competence ratings were obtainedfrom multiple perspectives, including parents, teachers, andclinic staff members; children provided ratings of self-perceivedacceptance and competence. Children in the SCD group were ratedas socially competent as their peers in the comparison groupand the normative group. Differences across raters were found,however, with parents in the SCD group giving higher ratingsthan clinic staff members. No differences were revealed betweenchildren in the SCD group and the comparison group in theirself-perceptions of competence and acceptance. Implicationsfor future studies addressing the situational specificity ofsocial competence and its relevance to health care of chronicallyill children are discussed.     

Links between mothers' and children's social competence and associations with maternal adjustment

Extended previous research on family factors related to children's social competence by examining links between 3 domains of maternal social competence (social skills, social frames, network size) and 3 domains of children's social competence (social skills, peer-rated social preference, and network size) in a sample of 78 mothers and their kindergarten children (42 girls, 36 boys). The mediational role of maternal social competence in the association between mothers' depression and interpersonal sensitivity symptoms and children's social competence was also tested. Results supported associations between all 3 domains of mothers' and children's social competence, with maternal social skills the most frequent predictor of children's social competence. Gender differences suggested that maternal social competence was more strongly related to sons' peer acceptance and daughters' social skills. A mediational model received preliminary support for girls, with maternal psychological symptoms related to girls' social competence via maternal social skills. Implications include the need for continued study of maternal social competence as a family factor related to children's peer functioning and the development of family-based interventions for young children experiencing peer problems.     

Children's experience of life stress: The role of family social support and social problem-solving skills as protective factors

Examined the role of family social support and social problem-solving skills in moderating the effects of children's stressful life events on behavioral adjustment. Participants were 322 fourth and fifth graders who reported on their stressful experiences during the past year. Children from both regular education (RE) or special education (SE) classrooms were included in the sample. Additional self-report data from children also included measures related to perceived level of family social support, a personality questionnaire, and a social problem-solving measure. In addition, teachers provided reports of the children's behavior and adjustment. Main effects were found for total stress, school/peer stress, family social support, and social problem solving. Significant moderator effects were found for family support on total stress for the teacher-reported internalizing problems of RE students and for family support on school/peer stress on the teacher-reported externalizing problems and self-reported anxiety problems of SE students. Specific, theory-generated hypotheses are discussed as a more effective method of examining relations between stress and various moderator variables.     

单纯性肥胖儿童社会适应能力,智商与行为问题研究

本文采用儿童适应行为评定量表和韦氏儿童智力量表对１９８例单纯性肥胖儿童进行测试。结果提示单纯性肥胖儿童社会适应能力差。突出表现为独立功能因子能力低，智商与对照组比较差别不显著（Ｐ＞０．０５）。提示应重视和加强对单纯性肥胖儿童有针对性的社会适应行为方面的教育和训练。