1,721,083 research outputs found
Understanding the Victimization–Aggression Link in Childhood: The Roles of Sympathy and Resting Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia
No full textWith a sample of 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 131), we tested the extent to which more frequent experiences of victimization were associated with heightened aggression towards others, and how sympathetic concern and resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) factored into this relationship. Caregivers reported their children’s aggression and sympathy. Children reported their victimization and their resting RSA was calculated from electrocardiogram data in response to a nondescript video. Findings revealed that children who reported more frequent victimization were rated as less sympathetic and, in turn, more aggressive. However, resting RSA moderated this path, such that children with high levels were rated as more versus less sympathetic when they reported less versus more victimization, respectively. Results suggest that considering children’s sympathetic tendencies and physiology is important to gain a nuanced understanding of their victimization-related aggression
Preschoolers’ anticipation of sadness for excluded peers, sympathy, and prosocial behavior
No full textWe investigated the relations between anticipation of sadness for excluded peers, sympathy, and prosocial behavior in a sample of 127 Italian preschoolers (Mage= 4.84 years, SD = 0.85). Children attributed emotions to hypothetical excluded peers who exhibited withdrawn versus aggressive behavior, and these attributions were coded for the presence and intensity of sadness. Teachers rated children’s sympathy and prosocial behavior via questionnaire. In general, children attributed more sadness to the withdrawn excluded peer than the aggressive excluded peer. A path analysis revealed that those who anticipated higher levels of sadness for the withdrawn excluded peer were rated higher in sympathy and, in turn, higher in prosocial behavior. Attributing high levels of sadness to withdrawn excluded peers—who portray relatively heightened need—may be an early social-emotional characteristic of children who are more sympathetic and more likely to channel other-oriented concerns into prosocial actions
Cross-Informant Assessment of Children’s Sympathy: Disentangling Trait and State Agreement
Get PDFThe use of multiple informants (e.g., caregivers and teachers) is recommended to obtain a comprehensive profile of children’s social emotional development. Evidence to date indicates that only a small-to-moderate degree of convergence exists between different informants’ assessments of children’s social-emotional functioning, especially when the contexts of such informants’ observations are also different. However, whether caregivers and teachers primarily disagree about children’s dispositional emotional tendencies or situational emotional fluctuations remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the extent to which caregivers and teachers converged in their evaluation of children’s dispositional and state sympathy (i.e., a relatively internal and low visibility emotional response of concern for another’s wellbeing) in a nationally representative sample of Swiss children (N = 1,273) followed from 6 to 12 years of age. Using analyses based in latent state–trait theory, we found that caregivers and teachers showed moderate-to-large agreement (r = .510) at the dispositional, trait level of children’s sympathy, but only a small level of agreement in their assessments of children’s situational, state-like manifestations of sympathy (r = .123). These findings highlight the differential convergence of adults’ ratings of one core dimension of children’s social-emotional development, i.e., sympathy, at the dispositional and situational levels, and, relatedly the need to investigate the reasons behind discrepancies at both levels of analysis. We elaborate on practical implications for designing social-emotional screening tools across different informants and contexts
The role of cross-group friendship and emotions in social exclusion
No full textBackground: Most countries have started to educate students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools, but it remains unclear how inclusive attitudes towards students with SEN can be promoted.
Aims: This study investigated the role of adolescents’ friendships and socio-moral competencies for their attitudes towards the inclusion of students with SEN. Specifically, we studied whether adolescents without SEN would develop more inclusive attitudes if they had close friendships with SEN students and if they expressed negative emotions about social exclusion.
Methods: Adolescents’ inclusive attitudes and their emotions were gathered from survey data of 1225 Swiss students aged 11–13. Social network data were collected to assess
adolescents’ friendship relationships.
Results: The results indicated that adolescents’ friendship closeness with SEN students positively related to their inclusive attitudes. However, this was only true for adolescents who anticipated more negative than positive emotions if a student with SEN was excluded.
Implications: These findings highlight the role of friendship relationships between adolescents with and without SEN and adolescents’ socio-moral experiences for their attitudes towards the inclusion of peers with SEN. Thus, inclusive education may benefit from promoting friendships among students with and without SEN as well as adolescents’ socio-moral competencies
Children’s Moral Judgments and Moral Emotions following Exclusion of Children with Disabilities: Relations with Inclusive Education, Age, and Contact Intensity
No full textAggressive and nonaggressive children's moral judgments and moral emotion attributions in situations involving retaliation and unprovoked aggression
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